The Gemini Chronicles
by The Archer777
Summary: A newcomer into Johnny's life brings some secrets of his past...
1. ISSUE ONE: Johnny Meets His Match?

**JTHM: The Gemini Chronicles**

Hello everybody! After many requests, my story is finally back up and just about finished there is one chapter left for me to write. Thank you everyone who asked for it, I appreciate it. 

Johnny and all associated characters from the original works of JtHM are copyrighted to the god Jhonen Vasquez.

Time frame is after JtHM#7 and between I Feel Sick #1 and #2.

I hope you enjoy!

~The Archer

**ISSUE ONE**

**Johnny meets his match?**

DEAR DIE-ARY,

        AS FAR AS MY ATTEMPTS TO ERRADICATE THIS MANIFESTATION OF HUMAN EMOTIONS FROM MYSELF BRINGS ME, I STILL EVERY NOW AND THEN SEEM TO REGRESS INTO A LAPSE OF MY FORMER SELF; 'CARING' ABOUT THE SHIT OF THE PATHETIC MINDS THAT INCESSENTLY RIDDLE THIS PATHETIC GLOBE…

            Nny strolls down the sidewalk, the humid night air causing him to be a tad unhappy. As he walks by the window of a quaint little pizza parlor, whistling to himself, Nny spots a sign advertising…

            "Cherry Brain Freezys! I smile!" Johnny opens the door to the parlor, reaching into his backpack for some money. He gets in line behind a strange green dog and a few moments later he is slurping on a freezy and starting back down the sidewalk, through the parlor's outside table area. Nny's just about to transgress back into his thoughts when the shrill laughter of a gaggle of high school preps interrupts him.

            "Well would you look at that thing!" one of them sounds. Nny gives a quick glance over his shoulder as a snobbish, pointy nosed redhead gives her piece of mind.

            "That flamer who looks like a wanna be Goth?" she trumpets. "Honestly, this city has so much trash."

            Nny bristles at this but tries his best to ignore it. However, she continues on her tirade.

            "Oh how I hate those Goth whiners, always complaining about how they're judged by their looks and then dare to look like that skinny fag." 

            Nny's rising contempt gets the best of him. He steps up to the table and looks her right in the face.

            "You should watch your tongue, lest you may lose it," he says with one of his creepy smiles and continues on down the street.

            "He was creepy," one of her friends comments as they watch him walk away. The girl shrugs and moves to her next victim.

            "There's another one! Why in God's name would someone want to dye their entire head aquamarine?!"

~          ~          ~

            Johnny crouches behind a bus stop bench, waiting. As he spots the vile little red head walking down the street, Nny grabs a pairs of fairly long carving knives out of his ever stocked backpack. He's just about to rush the chick and shove her into the alleyway across from him when some other shadow reaches out of the alley and drags her screaming in with it. Nny, fairly confused and a tad angry he didn't get her first, rushes over to investigate.

            As Nny steps into the alley, he hears the terrified sobs of the red head along with the snickers of a new feminine voice.

            "Aw, poor baby; no witty insults this time? I suppose now you know to watch out for who you poke fun at," the new voice drawls in a southern accent.

            "P…p…please…d…don..." the redhead heaves.

            "P…p…please what? Don't kill you?" The strange voice mocks as the red heads screams. As Nny steps further in, being sure to hide himself in the shadows, he sees the redhead's scalp beings partially sliced off by the towering, female figure; it was too dark for Nny to see much detail.

            "As if red hair's better than aquamarine; y'all need to consider openin' your horizons more hun…" the female stops and looks up as Nny accidentally kicks a can he hadn't noticed lying on the ground.

            "Who's there?" the female calls warningly, then she spots Nny in the shadows as the red head slumps to ground, shivering. The female snorts in amusement. "Beat it anorexic! This is between me and the prep."

            "Hardly, I saw her first," Nny finally pipes up, peeved at this obvious novice. "I have a particular claim to ripping out her tongue." Nny wields his knives which he had until then been hiding behind his back.

            "Ha! I'd like to see you try!" the female taunts, spinning her own pair of bloody daggers, identical to Johnny's. Nny makes a quick lunge at her. Finding her surprisingly strong, his blow is easily deflected.

            "That the best you got? Nice stilettos by the way." She says and is about to make a counterattack when the red head finally gathers enough strength and starts to sprint off. The female spins around in dismay, and then deftly hurls one her stilettos at the fleeing back. It hits head on and goes straight through her back, shoving her heart out the other side of the body. The red head stops for a moment, shocked, then clatters to the ground, dead. The female sighs.

            "Now look what you made me do! Killin' 'em right away is never any fun," the female whines. Nny stands shocked at the female's good aim as she stalks over to the body and attempts to pull her thrown weapon out. "People like you bother me. Probably just finished watching 'American Psycho' or something and decide to come out and give a try; pathetic. But isn't that how most serial killers get started? Either that or they just heard about the freak that went on the mass killing spree in that one town. I believe the police said he had a vampirism syndrome, drained his victims' blood and drank it or something…" 

            "I DIDN'T DRINK THEIR BLOOD!" Nny shouts, lunging at her once again. The female blocks him high and slashes upward, leaving a fairly long cut above his eyebrow with a smaller dagger she pulls from her boot, as the bigger knife can't be dislodged from the red head's back.

            "Ooo that hit a nerve!" the female comments. "Are you claiming to the perv who raped that girl too..." Nny swipes at her again.

            "I WOULD NEVER!" The female parries high. "IT WAS A COPY CAT!" Nny narrowly dodges her counterattack. "I KILLED THAT FREAK…" The female clocks Nny upside the head with her heel and send him clattering to the ground, one of his daggers flying out of his hand. The female steps on his other wrist, forcing him to drop the second knife. Nny squints his eyes but he still can't make out the female's facial features aside from her aquamarine hair pulled back in a ponytail, several strands of it falling out.

            "Really?" She says coolly, not even slightest bit winded. "Good, because if you did I would have had to kill you too. How disgusting..." She says, more to herself more than anyone else. She makes an impressive backwards flip on to the dumpster. "See ya around." She blows him a cocky kiss, and then gracefully leaps off disappearing.

            Nny, seething with anger, quickly gets up and retrieves his weapons. Using his new found contempt for the chick to hold back the memories, he walks over to the body and easily pulls the knife out of it. After looking after where she disappeared for a moment, he leaves the alley to retrieve his backpack, not quite sure why he's keeping her abandoned stiletto.


	2. ISSUE TWO: The Roommate

**ISSUE TWO**

**The Roommate**

           A few months later, having pretty much forgotten about the alleyway incident, Johnny hops out of his little grey car, leaps over the mangled body of the homeless drunk he 'accidentally' ran over, and rushes into his shack, 777.

            "Ah, back to my safe haven from the oppressive, sniveling sycophants of this consumer driven globe!" Nny exclaims, tossing his back pack in a corner, stretching his arms, fairly glad to be home…

            "I'm so glad to see you FEELING happy."

            … For the moment.

            "Exasperated Sigh Are you STILL here?" Nny replies, all enthusiasm gone. He shoots a look at Reverend Meat sitting on the end table by the couch.

            "Of course! Where else would I be?" Meat asks.

            "I was hoping in the trash compactor…" Nny says contemptuously. "Hello Mr. Samsa, at least something worth while is here." Nny lies on the floor so he can inspect his emotionless roach idol scuttling along.

            "Don't tell me you're still chasing after that pathetic goal?" Meat scrutinizes.

            Nny gets up and hurries into the kitchen to get away from Meat's lecture on the need of human emotions. He quickly searches the kitchen to find it empty.

            "DAMN! There's no Spaghettio's!" Nny yells. "I guess I'll just have to make a Brain Freezy run!" Nny starts out to his car.

            "Hurry home! Don't be out too late, someone's…"

            SLAM!

            Johnny slams the door before Reverend Meat can finish his sentence.

~          ~          ~

            Johnny gets out of his car, sucking on a Brain Freezy and carrying a bag full of Cherry Fiz Wiz. As he starts towards the front door, debating on whether or not to visit Squee, he notices a figure in a long black trench coat and sunglasses leaning on the house, a suitcase and another strange shaped case at the woman's feet.

            "Who the hell are…"

            "It's about time y'all got here!" The woman pipes up as he approaches her. "You said 1 AM right? I've been waiting for an hour. You're lucky I didn't have another appointment." She looks Nny over quickly. "You sounded shorter on the phone. Are you an artist?" The chick says, blowing a piece of shoulder length purple hair out of her face. "You're covered in red paint."

            Nny wipes some blood off his forehead leftover from the chain smoker that took too long at the Freezy machine. "Uh, kind of. Who were you again?"

            "Oh, don't tell me you forgot?" She drawls. "I'm here for the room? You advertised it in the newspaper?" She quickly adds when she notices he is still drawing a blank. She holds up a newspaper clipping. "This is 777, right? Normally I don't respond to ones labeled 'females preferred', but it was the only one in my price range… Are you sure you don't remember my phone call?"

            Johnny snatches the article and quickly reads it over.

            "MEAT!!!" Nny screams and rushes in his house, slamming the door in the girl's face and dropping his bag, sending Cherry Fiz Wiz rolling all over the floor.

            "Yes Johnny?" Meat says innocently, Nny shoves the ad at Meat.

            "WHAT IS THIS!?"

            "Oh that! Yes, well, I thought some social interaction would get you off of your 'no emotions' trip and over that Devi…"

            "I'M GONNA POUND YOU INTO PORCELIN DUST!!!" Nny screams, picking up a conveniently placed sledgehammer. "I DON'T WANT SOCIAL INTERACTION!"

            "But you have so many empty rooms…"

            "THEY'RE TORTURE CHAMBERS!"

            "You could use a few extra bucks…"

            "'FEMALE PREFERRED'?!?!"

            "She sounded nice on the phone. And she has a background in psychology…"

            "Excuse me?!" The girl barges in the house just as Nny raises the sledgehammer, her southern accented voice sounding a bit irritated. "You need to work on your people skills."

            "I DON'T WANT ANY!"

            "Whoa, ever hear of Prozac? So," the girl sets down her suitcases. "If y'all will just show me to my room, as I'm a tad tired and you probably… oh my," she looks around. "Y'all need to get a decorator in here quick 'cause, damn!"

            "Sorry, there's been a mistake," Nny says through gritted teeth, ignoring her comment. "There's no room for rent. Now I suggest you flee while your legs still function properly."

            "Hey! Hold on a gosh darn moment! I called here yesterday and you said I was the only one who called; the room was as good as mine. I just had to show up…" she snaps, pulling out an envelope. "…with the down payment. Here it is!"

            "Look, I didn't put that ad in the paper, there's no room and your accent is annoying! You…" Nny starts.

            "Excuse you?! You already said I could have the room and I am not leaving 'til I get it!" She shakes the envelope at him.

            "You want it?!" He growls with 'one of those looks' one his face. "THEN TAKE IT!!!" He hurls the sledgehammer at her head. She easily dodges it.

            "Now that…was rude," the girl says. "You need to improve your social skills."

            "I NEED TO?!?! YOU'RE THE ONE BARGING INTO PEOPLE'S HOUSES!!!" Nny screams infuriated. He whips out his stun gun and attacks the girl. She kicks it out of his hand.

            "BUT I DON'T ATTACK MY GUESTS EITHER!" She retorts, pulling a dagger out of her boot as Johnny retrieves the dirty stiletto he had taken from the alley. "And MY accent is annoying! At least I'm not a condescending chauvinist PIG!"

            "WHO EVER SAID YOU WERE A GUEST?!" She lunges at Johnny who in turn knocks her dagger out of her hand. Nny swings at her as she just narrowly leaps out of the way.

            "HEY! THAT'S MINE!" She screams and ducks again. As Nny tries to compensate, he steps on a Fiz Wiz can, slips and is sent flying down the stair well. In an attempt to regain his balance, he grabs the girl's jacket which just makes her go tumbling down the stairs after him.

            Once they hit the floor, the girl gets right up and grabs a sickle from a nearby table as Nny regains his bearing. In that moment, the girl has the sickle Nny's throat, pinning him to the floor with her knee on his chest. He quickly grabs the knife he dropped and threatens her own throat with it, growling.

            "Aw, poor baby, in quite a bind…now…" she wrinkles her forehead behind her broken sunglasses as she glares at him. "Wait a minute…"

            "I know that voice…" Nny starts.

            "YOU?!" They exclaim together. "FROM THE ALLEY?!"

            "I thought I recognized you…"

            "I've never met any one as SMUG as you!"

            "HA!" The girl snorts humorously. "This coming from the one who claims to be that homicidal maniac. You got a name, Maniac?"

            "I'm Johnny C. As you have a blade at my throat, you can call me 'Nny'."

            "I'm Vicky. Pleased to meet you."

            "Great. Now that we're acquainted, will you get off of me?"

            Vicky realizes she's still got him pinned down with her knee.

            "Oh, sorry," she chirps much too cheerily as she gets up and Nny quickly gets to his feet. She fixes her sunglasses best she can and places the sickle back on the table. "So, if you'll just show me to my room…"

            "Hold on! You're not stay…" Nny starts, but Vicky ignores him and rushes up stairs and quickly returns with her bags.

            "Is this it?" She opens a door.

            "Are you listen to me?! I said…"

            "I suppose this'll do. I'll have to redecorate," she says, looking around.

            "HEY!!!"

            "Here's the down payment!" Vicky shoves the envelope at Nny. "See you in the mornin'!" Vicky slams her door.

            Nny stares in disbelief at what just happened. He throws the envelope down and trudges back upstairs.

            "I told you she was nice," Meat says optimistically.

            "Shut up," Nny collapses on the coach. "Great, now I have southern white trash living in my house. I'm sure the Doughboys would've LOVED this." Nny stifles a yawn.

            "Tired Nny?"

            "No, of course not. I detest sleep."

            "Really Nny, will you ever listen to me? There's no way you can forever ignore the basic human functions…" Meat lectures.

            But Nny has already passed out.


	3. ISSUE THREE: Sucky Music, Bleeding Ears,...

**ISSUE THREE**

**Sucky**** Music, Bleeding Ears and Hair Gel**

            Vicky bounces up the stairs as she puts away her lipstick in her purse and fixes her alternate pair of sunglasses, dressed in her black clubbing tank top and tight leather pants which shows off her skinny build.

            "Yo Nny! Where's your…" She spots him lying on the couch; or falling off is more accurate. Only half his body is actually on the couch and from the puddle of drool coming from his mouth, Vicky can tell he's asleep. With an annoyed sigh, she picks up a glass of water and dumps it on his head. He falls off the couch with a yelp.

            "WHAT THE HELL…"

            "Mornin' Glory! Or Night Glory rather as its 10 o'clock…" Vicky says, leaning over and raising an eyebrow at his bewildered face. "Sleep well?"

            "Wha? Sleep? Where the…" Nny looks up Vicky. "Fuck, I was hoping you were just a nightmare…"

            "Whatever," she chirps, straightening up. "Well get up and find your keys; we're goin' out!"

            "What?!" Nny sits up.

            "Well I don't have a car and as it's in the next town over we certainly can't walk to the club!" Vicky bubbles.

            "CLUB?!"

            "Of course! Where else would we go?"

            "I'm not going to any club…"

            "Oh yes you are!" Vicky snarls.

            "I HATE CLUBS!" 

            "You hate a lot of things…" She observes, immediately calmer.

            "They're vile, disgusting…" Nny starts.

            "That's nice. Let's go!" Vicky chirps and starts towards the door.

            "I'm NOT going anywhere!" Nny stands up.

            "Look, you need to improve your social skill and as your in home psychiatrist, I plan to do just that!" 

            "You, a psychiatrist?"

            "Well, I'm not licensed but I did take some classes..."

            "Really? You went to college?"

            "For a year…" Vicky trails off. "I think…maybe…"

            "I'M NOT GOING TO ANY CLUB!" Nny screams, giving her the evil eye. Vicky rams him against the wall, thoroughly ticked.

            "Yes you ARE!!! I refuse to live with an anti-social freak and since I'm NOT going anywhere, you BETTER shape the hell up!" She fixes her purse, smiles sweetly, and grabs Nny's keys off the end table. "I'm drivin'!" She walks out the door.

            Nny growls, extremely pissed. Meanwhile, Meat starts laughing his head off. Nny starts to turn on him.

            "You better shut…"

            "JOHNNY! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE! DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THERE AND DRAG YOU OUT!!!"

            Johnny storms out the door.

~          ~          ~

            Vicky parks the car with a jerk, one wheel on the curb, in front of a neon lighted dance club called 'SCHIZO' and stops to check her lipstick before getting out of the vehicle. Johnny, for the first time in his life absolutely terrified, clutches the dashboard (which now permanently has his hand prints pressed into it), wishing he hadn't used the seat belts to strangle that midnight jogger. Vicky bounces over to his door and opens it.

            "Well, you comin'?" She says quickly before walking off towards the door. Nny takes a moment to hold himself back from cutting her feet off then reluctantly follows, slamming the car door behind him.

            "This place is disgusting," Nny comments, looking at the tribal dancing occurring in front of him. "We might as well have gone to a zoo." 

            "Alright, seeing as this is your first time here," Vicky starts to instruct him, completely ignoring everything he was saying. "I suggest you stay to the back of the crowd. If you get anywhere near the stage, you'll get torn apart; that's where the crazy people go. There's a bar there, but only pathetic losers hang out there all night, so only stay there in 5 minute intervals. Now should you be asked to dance…"

            "WHOA! Hold it! I'm NOT dancing!"

            "Hm, yeah, you're right. I should've given you a make-over before we left…" Vicky replies misinterpreting as she looks him over. "Let's see…" She pulls a tube of hair gel out of her purse and a plastic comb.

            "What the hell are you doing?"

            She grins insanely, squeezing some gel out of the tube and attacking Nny's hair. 

            "HEY! GET OFF! DON'T TOUCH ME! ACK!" He screams trying to fight Vicky off. She's too quick though and succeeds in giving him one of those gelled-spiked looks instead of his usual hair-going-everywhere looks. Vicky inspects her job, wiping the excess gel on a napkin.

            "Well, it's the best I can do, considerin' the circumstances…" She says. 

            "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" He screams, looking in a mirror on the wall.

            "Alright, you try to make some friends. I'll be off enjoying myself," Vicky says, turning to go. "I'll be back in a bit to check up on you and make sure you're not being a wallflower. And I have your keys so don't be going anywhere!" She smiles sweetly behind her sunglasses, and then waltzes off.

            "I'M GONNA…THAT WOMAN…ARGH!" Nny growls, making choking motions as she walks away towards the stage. Trying to control his anger and keep his emotions in check, he wanders over to the bar and sits at one of the stools. The guy next to him blows a cloud of smoke in Nny's face; Nny grimaces.

            "Nice hair," the smoker says to Nny after another drag. "Your girlfriend drag you here?" Nny cringes.

            "Uh, kind of…"

            "Yeah, same here. But what ya gonna do?" The smoker claps Nny on the back. "If didn't come, I'd be sleeping on the couch cough."

            "Don't touch me."

            "Here, let me get you a beer." The smoker calls the bartender over.

            "I don't drink."

            "Nah, it's on me!" The smoker gags through a couch.

            "I said…" Nny growls.

            "Hey calm down! Hack, Cough I heard! I'm not deaf!"

            Nny finally snaps, grabs some plastic sword toothpicks off the counter and shoves them in the smoker's ears.

            "Now you are," Nny says, walking away as the smoker screams.

            Johnny trudges through the crowd, looking for Vicky and in a very murderous mood, the revolting techno not helping any. He just spots a purple head, when the current song ends and a DJ comes on the mic.

            "And now, the girl you're all been waiting for, our first live set of the evening, the one and only, SLUTNEY QUEERS!" He announces. The crowd sounds with a mix of cheers and overwhelming boos.

            "OH MY BLEEDING EARS! NOOOOOO!!!" Nny screams in angst, covering his ears. He quickly abandons his search for Vicky and rushes out the nearest door. As he hurries down the hall, Nny spots a door labeled 'Dressing Rooms'. Nny smiles and slips in.

~          ~          ~

            "Thank you everyone, and good night!" Queers says with false sincerity to the audience as she hurries off the stage. She throws her mic at the nearest techie and rushes to her dressing room.

            "UGH! I'm so tired of these stupid gigs. I have to talk to my agent," She complains, rushing in the room and sitting down in front of the vanity, not bothering to even close the door. She starts brushing her hair and continues to bitch; not noticing as the door slowly starts closing by itself.

            "This place is so not MTV. I can't believe…" She pauses when she hears the lock click. "Who's there?" She looks in the mirror, not turning around and sees some guy with spiked blue-ish black hair, recognizing it to be her boyfriend. For some reason he's dressed weird though. "Jeff, there you are! Don't you go on stage in five?"

            "I'm not 'Jeff'. My name…"

            "Oh, you must be that look-alike stalker again." She sigh, pissed off. "I don't know how the hell you got back here, but you better…" Queers starts, still not turning around. She's cut off by a pair of tweezers piercing through her eardrum. The 'look-alike' puts his head over her shoulder and grins in the mirror.

            "Your voice makes my ears bleed. I want to return the favor," he says, picking up some eyelash curlers and inspecting them.

            A few moments later, Johnny walks out of the dressing room, covered in gore,  discarding a bloody voice box. He starts toward the exit when he's stopped by a techie.

            "JEFF! There you are! We've been looking all over for ya man!" He says.

            "What? My name's not Jeff…" Nny starts.

            "Oh yeah, the whole 'alter ego' thing, gotcha. Dude, what are you covered in?" The techie babbles. Nny starts to answer. "Never mind that. You're supposed to be on the stage! Let's go!" The techie starts shoving Nny down the hallway, putting a headset mic on him at the same time. "And where the hell did ya get those clothes? Ugh, I'm gonna be in so much heat 'cause of you!"

            Before Nny has a chance to say another word, getting quite pissed but trying to restrain himself, the techie shoves him on stage with four other guys and rushes off.

            "Who the hell are you?" Nny asks the other guys, all four of them dressed in matching blue suits and holding canes.

            "Ha ha Jeff. Come on, we got a show to do!"

            "My name is NOT… show?" Just then, the curtain on stage goes up.

~          ~          ~

            "Honestly, I thought this club had better music. So far the line up sucks," Vicky says to her new found acquaintance (who unfortunately was quickly irritating her) as the announcer introduces the 'Crack street Boys'. "Great, more pop star wanna bees."

            As the curtain goes up, the beginning chords to a song starts a group of guys wearing matching blue suits break into a dance step. Well, all except the one guy dressed in black.

            "Hm, that one looks familiar…" Vicky says, pointing out the one in black.

            "Who, Jeff?" The girl asks, squeaking a little toy she had in her hand.

            "You actually know their names? That's sick," Vicky criticizes.

            Nny, meanwhile, stands at the back of the stage, stares at the weirdoes trying to dance in front of him, and attempts to get off. One of the guys, however, grabs his arm as he starts off.

            "Jeff, where're ya goin'? Your solo's comin' up!" The guy says. Nny grabs the cord off the guy's mic and it around his neck.

            "FOR THE LAST TIME, NY NAME IS JOHNNY, NOT JEFF!" Nny screams, as he tightens the chord.

            "Oh my giddy aunt…" Vicky says in disbelief.

            "OH NO! HE'S KILLING BOB!" Her friend squeaks her toy.

            "That's my roommate! DAMN IT!" Vicky yells. "I try an' find a nice club an' he goes killin' the band! Sigh They sucked anyway…" Vicky starts heading toward the stage as mass hysteria ensues.

            Nny lets the body slump to the floor, grabs the cane the guy was dancing with, and continues to maim the rest of the band. Vicky fights her way up to the stage as Nny pokes the last singer's eyeballs out.

            "What the hell are you doin'?" Vicky demands, jumping on the stage.

            "They kept calling me 'Jeff'," Johnny says, pulling off his headset and tossing it aside.

            "Jeff, who the hell name's their child 'Jeff'?" Vicky asks. 

            "I was thinking the exact same thing…" Nny starts as another man comes on the stage.

            "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!" He screams and rushes over to one of the fallen band members. "BOB! IT'S ME, JEFF! WAKE UP!"

            "So you're 'Jeff'. You know with that hair-do, you do kinda look like him, Nny…" Vicky comments. Nny simply shoves the cane through the guy's throat. Another round of screams comes from the crowd and they start running towards the exits. Vicky looks at the group of people running like chickens with their heads cut off.

            "JOHNNY! Why did you have to kill them on stage?! This totally cuts into my night!" Vicky screams. Then she sits on the floor as a stream of tears comes out from behind her sunglasses. "I just try to make some friends, and everything goes wrong!! WHYYYYY!!! AM I FOREVER DOOMED TO BE ALONE?! WAAAAAHHH!"

            Nny stares at her in disgust for a moment then pokes her shoulder.

            "When you're finished, can we leave? The screaming is starting to bother me and you still have my keys."

            "UGH! Fine!" Vicky stands up, completely over her brake down. She walks past Nny and jumps off the stage starting toward the exit. Nny reluctantly follows, as she's his only way home.

            A bouncer stops them on the way out.

            "YOU TWO ARE IN DEEP SHIT!" He says.

            "Pardon us," Vicky says, totally calm. "We're parked in a no parking zone, could this wait till another time?"

            "WHAT? You two are responsible for the stampede that just occurred! The po…" Vicky snaps his neck before he can finish.

            "I JUST WANT TO GO HOME! WHY WILL YOU NOT LET ME GO HOME?!" She continues out the door. Nny rushes up beside her.

            "Do you have some kind of mental problem I should know about?"

            "Well, my psych teacher in college was trying to kick me out of class 'cause he said I had a dangerous mood swing disorder with extreme violent tendencies and I was unfit to council other people. I stabbed him with an envelope opener and dropped out of school after that," Vicky says matter of factly. "I mean me, insane? HA!" She said, taking the keys out of her purse and starting up the car as she gets in. Nny gets in the passenger's side when he has a revelation.

            "There's a psycho driving my car… this can't goooOOOOOOD!!!!" Nny screams as Vicky burns rubber in a 180 degrees turn and heads back to house #777.


	4. ISSUE FOUR: The Dangers of Funny Tasting...

**ISSUE FOUR**

**The Dangers of Funny Tasting Cherry Fiz Wiz**

            Johnny sits in the dankness of one of the empty rooms of his house, a single lamp on, staring intently into a mirror, completely still. He seems to be searching for something in the unchanging reflection. Trying to find the loose end that was slowly unraveling the control he had somewhat gained on his trip away from his little home. The room remains in complete silence when…

            "You know, if you stare into that mirror too long Nny, you'll start to look like another person," Meat pipes. Nny doesn't move as he answers.

            "Go away, I'm busy."

            "Staring into a mirror?"

            "I'm trying to regain the apathy I seem to have lost since that insufferable shrew moved in."

            "You could just kill her; that would do the trick."

            "Hmm…" Johnny tosses the idea around his head for a moment. On one hand, it was a very good idea, getting rid that distraction would help him continue on his path. On the other, it would be following something Meat suggested, and Johnny is quite determined not to that, as last time he listened to an animate object, bad things happened.

            "Go ahead Johnny-boy! We both know you want to! Submit to those venomous feelings…"

            "How many…" Nny starts to growl when a loud thump sounds from upstairs. "What the…Vicky!" Nny moans and rushes upstairs to see what's going on.

            As he reaches the top of the stairs, he can see Vicky, dressed in sweatpants and a tank top, complete with her sunglasses, dipping a large paint brush into a bucket of purple paint. He takes a deep breath, determined to prove Meat wrong.

            "Vicky, what in Moose's name do you think you are doing?" Nny demands.

            "Well, decoratin' the, um, this qualifies as a livin' room, right?" She says, looking up.

            "What? Why?"

            "Nny, do you even notice what a dump this place is? I plan on fixin' it up some. What if someone comes for a visit? What will they think of this here mess?"

            "Well, usually it doesn't matter because they're just going to be hideously maimed… wait a minute, YOU DIDN'T INVITE ANYONE…"

            "Of course not. I don't know anyone to invite…" She trails off a tad depressed. "But anywho, if I did, I would be too embarrassed to!" Vicky chirps and turns to the wall to start painting it.

            "YOU ARE NOT PAINTING MY HOUSE, what is that, LAVENDER!" He snarls, starting to lose control. Vicky whirls around, splattering paint on Johnny in the process.

            "I AM TO! I SPENT A PRETTY PENNY ON THIS PAINT, AND I REFUSE TO LIVE IN A DREARY DUNGEON!" She counters, shaking the brush to emphasize her point, splattering Johnny with more paint.

            "Well, why don't you move OUT!?" Nny growls, all hope of staying calm totally lost now.

            "I WILL NOT!" She says, stepping up in his face, looking him straight in the eye. Nny hadn't really noticed till then that she was the exact same height as he, but of course, he was much too pissed right now to give a damn. He picks up an open can of paint and dumps it on Vicky's head. She takes a sharp breath.

            "You did NOT just do that!" She exclaims in shock, retaliating by whacking him upside the head with her brush, painting half his face lavender. Both of them lunge for the nearest can and within 5 minutes, they completely douse each other with paint as Rev. Meat sits in the corner snickering. After they exhaust their liquid paint supply, Johnny rushes to pick up a can of spray paint and snatches a lighter from the table. Vicky drops on the floor.

            "LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO MY HAIR!" Vicky sobs, completely oblivious to the fact that Nny's about to burn it off. "I'LL NEVER GET THIS PAINT OUT IN TIME FOR TONIGHT! Oooo, you better pray that this comes out of my hair!" She snarls.

            Nny lowers the paint can.

            "What do you mean, 'tonight'? I REFUSE TO GO TO THAT HELLISH DANCE CLUB…"

            "Oh, don't be stupid, we're banned from that town. I'm not quite sure why, I mean, you kill a few people these days and they take out of a 50 mile restraining order…" Vicky ponders this a bit. Johnny raises an eyebrow at her.

            "What are you doing? This is your chance! Fry her while the paint's still wet!" Meat encourages. Nny turns on him.

            "NO! I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU!" Nny threatens him with the spray paint and lighter as he advances on Meat.

            "Wha? I didn'…" Vicky stares at him in bewilderment, having no clue what he's talking about.

            "Now, Johnny, you know this whole fight is pointless, just give in…"

            "NO! I CONTROL ME! I CONTROL ME!" Nny screams, trying to drown Meat's voice out of his head.

            "Who the hell are you talking to?" Vicky pops her head over Nny's shoulder. "How adorable!" She shoves Nny out of the way and crouches in front of Meat. "Did you paint him? Like those creepy Styrofoam things I saw?"

            "Oh no, I was a gift, unlike the Doughboys," Meat replies, before Nny can ask what she had been doing snooping around his house.

            "ACK! IT TALKS!" She cringes for a moment, then scoops it up in her arms. "I LOVE IT! I use to…"

            Johnny lets out a virulent scream, throwing down his spray paint in disdain.

            "What's his problem?" Vicky asks.

            "He's mad because he can't relieve himself of the burden of human emotions," Meat informs her.

            "That's so sad! Why doesn't he want emotions?"

            "I think it's because he got dumped by some girl and can't take the rejection."

            "WHAT?!?! THAT IS SO…" Nny starts.

            "Oh, well that's nothing to go ballistic over, Nny. People get dumped everyday…"

            "I AM NOT…"

            "I KNOW!" Vicky exclaims. "I'll just have to teach you the value of emotions! It'll be fun!"

            "I DON'T…"

            "THIS'LL BE GREAT! WE CAN START TONIGHT!"

            "THERE'S NO…"

            "Y'all better go get cleaned up! The art show is black tie; at least I think that's what she said…" Vicky instructs him, ignoring Johnny once again.

            "A SUIT?! I'M SURE AS HELL NOT GOING!!"

            "Don't be silly, of course you are!"

            "NO, I'M NOT! I'M NOT WEARING A SUIT, I'M NOT LEAVING THIS HOUSE AND THAT'S FINAL!"

~          ~          ~

            Vicky waltzes into the expo, dressed in black dress pants, a matching blouse, and silver rimmed sunglasses. She's dragging behind her a quite livid Johnny, dressed in a black suit and bow tie. Meat's suggestion to bump off Vicky was sounding very appealing to him.

            "See? This isn't as bad as you thought it would be," Vicky grins her sickenly sweet smile. "No annoying boy bands."

            "I'm going to rip out each of your teeth one by one with your own fingers," Johnny calmly whispers to her. She ignores him again. "What the hell is this show for anyway?"

            "Uh…some book company, or magazine thing. I forget the name, Dirb or Curve or somethin' like that. They're showing off their artists…I think…I figured you would enjoy the art thing."

            "How did you get that idea?" Johnny's a tad surprised that she was able to guess that. "Were you snooping around my house?"

            "NO! Jeeze, I try to do somethin' nice for some body an' they get all accusing!" Vicky gets testy. "Actually, I don't know where I got the idea from! I just…did…" She walks away, leaving a confused Nny behind.

            Nny kind of putzes around the expo, critical of pretty much every piece of art work, none of them quite good enough for his standards; though one of exhibits did impress Johnny. Some PR guy walks up to him as Nny's inspecting the art, irritating Johnny quite a bit. The irksome little gnome gets away before Nny can ram his pen through the guy's air pipe. Johnny does learn the company's name from him, however; 'NERVE'. It sounds very familiar to Johnny, but since an immediate memory doesn't come to mind, he quickly forgets it as he struggles with his tie, trying to loosen the damn thing but only succeeding in making it tighter. He stops fussing with it though when he spots the contents of the punch bowl on the refreshment table.

            "CHERRY FIZ WIZ! This won't be so horrible after all…" He exclaims, rushing over to the table. He quickly downs three glasses and grabs another four, wrinkling his nose at the slight funny taste. But it was still cherry carbonated goodness for the most part, so Nny's happy.

~          ~          ~

            Vicky walks around the art show, actually quite bored. She's never really been into art, at least from what she can remember. She feels as though used to know someone that was, but it was blurry as she thought back. She gives up after rattling her brain unsuccessfully for awhile. She stops at one piece of art, named "Nostalgia". The little card claims it's supposed to bring back memories to anyone who looks at it.

            Vicky stares at the painting for a little bit, waiting for a memory to come back to her like the little card promised it would. She gazes at the painting, cocking her head to one side, completely drawing up a blank. Anything beyond her memories of college is a messy pool of unfinished images and unknown feelings. 

            Frustrated and kind of depressed, Vicky trudges aimlessly around the expo. She had already tried going to the refreshment table, but some body had already drank all the Cherry Fiz Wiz, which made her sad as well, it was her favorite drink. It doesn't bother her too much though, because someone had claimed it was spiked anyhow. Vicky just starts to admire the sharp objects exhibit when someone jumps her from behind and wraps a piece of cloth around her neck. Vicky easily sends the person flying over her shoulder, and Johnny lands flat on his back, clutching his tie that he had finally gotten off. Johnny slowly staggers to his feet, not quite nimble as he usually is.

            "What is your major malfunction? That was SO rude, Nny, and you know how I hate rude people," Vicky says, standing with her hand on her hips.

            "ME?! You're the one in cahoots with the Chihuahua!" Nny slurs and rushes Vicky. She simply sidesteps and he goes crashing into some mirror exhibit.

            "What the fuck are you talking about?"

            "I AM THE WALRUS! COO COO CACHOO!" Johnny lunges at her again, holding a large shard of glass in each hand. Vicky narrowly dodges some of his swipes but he slashes one of her arms as she trips him. He goes flying into the crowd that was starting to gather, one of the shards of glass plunging into the stomach of the irritating man from before. The entire crowd, just like all good little audiences do, gasps in unison as Nny pulls the shard out.

            "OOOOOOOWWWWWWWIIIEEEE!!! THAT HURT!" Vicky cries in a high pitched voice. "Ok, NOW I'M PISSED!" She rushes to the sharp objects exhibit and grabs a carving knife.

            "ALL I WANT IS TO BE RID OF THESE SUPERFLOUS EMOTIONS! I WANT TO NOT CARE ABOUT ANY OF IT! I DON'T WANT TO CARE ABOUT YOU OR YOU OR YOU OR YOU!" Nny points at random people in the crowd which quickly backs so as not to incur his wrath. "I WANT TO BE THE FLY GODDAMMIT!" Nny turns on Vicky, practically frothing at the mouth. "AND THIS PUSILLANIMOUS WRETCH KEEP ME FROM MY GOAL! DIE VERMIN!" He lunges at Vicky once more, but this time two guards get to him first and hold him back right before he reaches her. "WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!"

            "I've asked myself that same question several times; just lucky I guess…" Vicky shrugs. "Any may I say that you need a Tic Tac. Have you been drinkin'?"

            Johnny in incensed by this and throws the guards off of him. He then shoves the two shards of glass he's holding between their eyes and hurries to the sharp objects exhibit, quickly grabbing two butcher knives that were hanging from a mobile. Nny leaps up on a table.

            "THIS ENDS NOW!" Nny screams with an insane laugh  "DRINK DEEP OR DIVE NOT INTO THE PLASMA POOL!". Just then, a new voice sounds from the crowd.

            "What the hell is going on?!" A tall girl with magenta pigtails yells, trying to push her way through the crowd. Johnny instantly perks up at this voice.

            "DEVI! I'M SO GLAD YOU COULD MAKE IT!" Nny grins insanely.

~          ~          ~

            Devi stands by her exhibit at the expo, playing with a little dagger necklace she has around her neck. NERVE had insisted she attend and had actually put some of her pieces up; ones that in one point in time had been hers anyway. After the plethora of revisions and little pink gerbils they thoroughly disgusted Devi. But she was getting a bonus for being there and she had forgotten to pay last month's rent. Devi looks over the head's of the dull crowd, trying to see the clock in hopes that it was soon time to go. As she searches, she thinks she sees a head of blue-ish black hair, and is momentarily unnerved. Devi quickly leaves her post by her exhibit to look for Tenna, who had said she was going to be there to make sure Devi was enjoying herself. Tenna had been thrilled when Devi told her about the expo, thinking her eternal advice to get out more was finally paying off.

            Devi trudges through the milling crowd, Tenna was nowhere in sight. Which wasn't a necessarily a bad thing, at least Devi wouldn't have to contend with Mr. Spooky. Devi swings by the refreshment table when she hears a high pitched scream from within a large crowd that had formed around the sharp objects exhibit. Thinking that someone was trying to demonstrate their juggling act again, she heads over, hoping it'll give her something to laugh at. As she gets close though, she realizes that no one's juggling; even bad jugglers don't spurt that much blood. Devi shoves her way through the crowd, no one answering her questions as they're in too much shock.

            "What the hell is going on?!" She yells, finally getting to the front of the crowd. She's met by a voice she had hoped she would never hear again.

            "DEVI! I'M SO GLAD YOU MADE IT!" Nny grins at her insanely from his perch atop a table, a smile that strongly reminded Devi of that last time she saw him. Devi, in shock now as well, quickly sweeps the rest of the area with her eyes trying to find a weapon; she left her mace laden purse back at her exhibit. Three people lay dead in puddles of quickly spreading blood and another punk-ish girl with sunglasses, purple hair that looked like it had paint in it and a similar skinny build to Johnny crouches a few feet from the table, holding a carving knife in her hand, a fairly good size gash down one of her arms.

            "JOHNNY?!"

            "I NEVER DID GET TO SHOW YOU THE MASTERFULNESS OF MY ART!" Johnny slurs, waving his knives around.

            *Oh great, the homicidal maniac is drunk off his ass. This can't be good,* Devi thinks, tensing up some more.

            "Do you have any idea as to what the hell you are talkin' about?!" The girl with purple hair says, venom dripping from her voice.

            "YOU SHUT UP! YOU THINK YOU'RE BETTER THAN ME?!" Johnny yells at her, pointing a knife at her. "I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING! 'POOR INSANE JOHNNY!' FUCK! YOU REMIND ME OF THOSE DAMN CHEERLEADERS! MR. EEF, THAT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT! DAMN YOU STRYOFOAM GODS! YOU DON'T EVEN CONDUCT ELECTRICITY! THE AUDACITY OF IT ALL!"

            The rest of crowd stares a Johnny, not a having a single clue what he's talking about. Vicky's the only one who seems to have been able to follow it.

            "HEY! MY DELUSIONS OF GRANDURE ARE ONLY A RESULT OF MY SCHIZOPHRENIC TENDENCIES! IT'S NOT NICE TO MAKE FUN OF THE CRAZY PEOPLE!" Vicky yells back. Devi stands staring at the two bickering back and forth.          "I AM THE CAPITALIST GOD! ALL BOW TO ME AND THROW MONEY AT MY FEET!" Johnny cries, throwing his head back as he laughs the laugh of a crazy person being dragged away by the nice young men in their clean white coats. Unfortunately, he also bashes his head on the low hanging chandelier in the process, knocking him out cold. He falls from the table unconscious, the knives clattering beside him.

            "That was… interesting…" Devi comments, walking over and standing next to Vicky, staring down at Johnny.

            "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Vicky screams. "NONONONONO! I REFUSE TO CARRY YOUR DRUNKEN ASS HOME!!!" She starts crying on Devi's shoulder. "IT'S NOT FAIR!!"

            "Um… it's… er…alright…" Devi says, awkwardly patting her on the back, trying to calm her down so she'll stop crying.

            "I JUST TRY AN' DO SOMETHIN' NICE FOR SOMEBODY AN' THEY GO AN' DO THIS!!!" Vicky kicks Johnny. "BASTARD!"

            "Uh…are you his… 'Girlfriend' or something?" Devi almost gags on the word. Vicky bursts into laughter and then stops abruptly.

            "No, he's just my ever gallin' roommate. I'm not quite sure why he advertised the room though, 'cause he doesn't seem very happy sharin' his house…"  Vicky says, thoughtfully, holding the cut on her arm that was slowly oozing blood. Then she kicks Johnny again. "Now I have to drag him out to the car. Fuck."

            Devi looks down at Johnny again.

            *He actually looks kind of sweet when he's asleep…* Devi thinks. But she quickly shakes the thought off. Vicky however, is debating as to whether or not she should leave him there.

            "Once again you totally SCREW UP MY NIGHT!" Vicky screams at his comatose figure. "I SHOULD JUST LEAVE YOU HERE AND MAKE YOU WALK HOME!" Vicky gets ready to kick Johnny's head in. 

            "WAIT! DON'T KILL HIM!" Devi stops her.

            "You're right, that wouldn't be very polite, would it?" Vicky shrugs. Immediately cheerier, she holds a blood-speckled hand out to Devi. "I'm Vicky by the way."

            "Um, Devi." Devi reluctantly shakes her enthusiastic hand.


	5. ISSUE FIVE: Mirror Mirror On the Wall

**ISSUE FIVE**

**Mirror Mirror on the Wall**

            Vicky is curled up on her bed, leaning against the wall and staring at the contents of the strange shaped case that lies open on the end of the bed. The room in which she has chosen to occupy is almost unchanged from when she had moved in, despite her claims to re-decorate. In one corner lies her suitcase, open, her clothes thrown in it haphazardly, beneath them a few of her favorite weapons, not many. On the broken down dresser sits a bright pink and purple Furby™ next to a beat up, torn picture. The only light is that of a dying lamp of the dresser.

            Vicky continues staring at the case which hasn't been opened in the longest time. Vicky can hardly remember the last time she picked it up, it was just another blur of the tornado inside her head. As she watched, the wooden object gleamed, daring her to pick it up, adding to her growing depression, a hollow, empty feeling of total incompleteness that she all too familiar with. The contents of that case represents a time before all the aching pain of her brain had started. For that, she despises the case; and yet she still misses it.

            Vicky finally gives in to the glitter of the beautifully crafted violin that sits in the case and picks it up, placing it on her shoulder and grabbing the bow. With a shaky hand, she draws the bow across the strings and a cacophony of evil hisses escapes from the instrument. Vicky tosses the violin back in its case and puts her head in her hands, tears streaming down from behind her sunglasses.

            "That was gorgeous! Carnegie Hall material!"

            "Shut the fuck up, Ludwig," Vicky sniffs.

            "Aw, you're so mean, Vicky," the little Furby™ says. "All this negative energy is detrimental to the creative muses…"

            "What muses? I have none."

            "Well, with THAT attitude of course not!"

            "I haven't been able to play in years…I can't even remember the last concert I played…" Vicky mumbles drearily.

            "Then how can you be sure you were any good?" Ludwig comments. Vicky growls, unable to answer.

            "I thought I took your batteries out?!"

            "Batteries? I don't need no stinkin' batteries!" The Furby™ retorts.

            "ARGH! I HATE YOU!" Vicky lunges for Ludwig.

            "Hey! Can you say 'anger management issues'? You should keep it down; you might wake your roommate."

            "I doubt it. He was pretty damn smashed," Vicky says, standing at the dresser. "Alcohol, ick. It's almost as disgusting as smoking."

            "You know, I'm sure he's a very nice person. You two should…"

            "EW! Can you say GR-OSS?!" Vicky accents the 'oss'. "I would NEVER go on a date with a social outcast such as him! The mere though disgusts me!"

            " 'Social outcast?' Because you're a glowing picture of a perfect social life," Ludwig says sarcastically. "Tell me, when did you last have a real friend?"

            Vicky sighs, once again without an answer.

            "Devi seemed kinda nice…" Vicky murmurs.

            "Yeah, till she's finds out you're a schizo…"

            "I'M NOT SCHIZO! I just have issues, there's a difference," Vicky picks up the torn picture.

            "Whatever, Psycho, quit whining and accept it! Besides, insanity can be fun!"

            Vicky ignores Ludwig, staring at the picture with is missing half, is very crinkled and obviously rather old. On it is a young girl with dark hair, who appears to maybe be a younger Vicky. In the picture she's smiling, a genuine smile, with a motherly hand on her shoulder, the owner's face cut off by the tear. The younger Vicky is also leaning on someone else's shoulder, but that person's face also cut off.

            Vicky stares hard at the picture, like she's done a thousand times before trying to remember. But every time it gets harder and harder to remember anything. Another tear trickles down Vicky's cheek.

            "Will you get over it Vicky? You're not going to remember anything; you should go out, maybe gruesomely disfigure that mime you saw the other day…" Ludwig encourages.

            "Why is it that every time I try to remember somethin' you tell me to go kill somebody?" Vicky questions, still looking at the photo.

            "But you always feel better afterwards, don't you?"

            Vicky sets the picture down and runs a hand through her hair. 

            "I'm goin' out ," She declares and grabs her wallet.

            "Mime time?" Ludwig says hopefully, but Vicky ignores it and rushes up the stairs and out into the daylight.

~          ~          ~

_            Johnny sat in the front row of the audience, his eyes closed, letting the gorgeous music wash over him like waves of the ocean. It was the first time in long time that he felt at total peace with himself. The world had stopped and all that existed was the stunning flow of notes that could halt the most chaotic mind._

_            The stream ended with a flourish and the audience burst in to tremendous applause. Johnny opened his eyes and stood up, joining in the applause._

_            "That was superb, she's going to go all the way," A male figure to Johnny's left said. "You should take some pointers on work ethic from her, Jonathon."_

_            Johnny snapped his head around to look at the man, but the face was all dark and not a single feature could be made. He had no clue who it was, but he knew he hated him._

_            Johnny looked around the music hall and suddenly had the realization that he had no idea where he was._

_            *Is this a dream?* He thought to himself and he dropped his hands to his sides. On stage, someone stood at the front, next to the conductor, a pile of roses at both of their feet. Johnny took a step forward to get a better look at the person, the lights much too bright for him to see. He squinted his eyes but still couldn't see a thing.*Who are you?*_

~          ~          ~

            Johnny groans, a piercing pain shooting through his eyeballs. 

            "Fuck, was I shot again?" Johnny says thickly, not anyone in particular.

            "Not by a gun. From your breath, I think it was Tequila," Meat says somewhere above him. "Did you have fun?"

            Johnny slowly regains a vague awareness and cracks his eyes open a bit but quickly squeezes them shut again, the dull light from the street light blinding. As Johnny wakes up more, he realizes that he's in an extremely cramped place, and very uncomfortable.

            "If you're only here to mock me, which you always are, go the hell away," Johnny says, trying to remember where he was without having to open his eyes.

            "But Vicky brought me out here specifically to keep you company, I couldn't let her down," Meat says with false sincerity.

            " 'Out here'? What are you talking about?" Johnny finally opens his eyes and sees that he's stuck in a rather odd position on the small floor of the back of his car. "How the hell did I get here?"

            "Oh you don't remember?" Meat asks innocently. "From what Vicky tells me, it was very humorous…"

            Johnny attempts to get up, but quickly gets dizzy and puts his head back down, pricking his finger on something in the process. He reaches for what it was that poked him and pulls up a small decorative dagger necklace. 

            "What the fuck…" Johnny looks at it and starts remembering what happened. "Shit."

            "Aw, how cute, she gave you a memento," Meat says. Johnny growls and tries to get up again, finally succeeding. He practically falls out the car door and starts to drag himself inside, leaving Meat screaming at him from the car.

            "HEY! WHAT ABOUT ME?!"

            Still clutching the necklace, he slams the door behind him, debating on whether he should give it back or not.

            "NO YOU IDIOT! YOU CAN'T DO THAT IN REAL LIFE! URANIUM DOESN'T MELT AT THAT LOW A TEMPERATURE! STUPID!" Vicky screams at the TV and tosses popcorn at it, increasing Johnny's already pounding headache. He growls and turns around to see Vicky sitting upside down on the couch with all her hair shoved up in a hat, throwing popcorn in the air and trying to catch it with her mouth. She misses and the kernel whacks her on the forehead. 

            "Could you please keep in down, my head is killing me," Johnny says. Vicky looks up, her sunglasses getting hit with a piece of popcorn.

            "Well duh, you smashed your head into a chandelier! And then of course there's the whole hangover thing…"

            "Which I hold as your entire fault…" Johnny starts to retort, but Vicky ignores him and starts yelling at the TV again.

            "OH COME ON! YOU CAN'T WALK INTO A SUB'S NUCLEAR REACTOR! WHOEVER WROTE THIS IS AN IMBECILE!" Vicky screams again, throwing more popcorn at the screen and causing Johnny to wince again. Some of the popcorn misses and reflects off Nny's boot.

            "What the fuck are you watching?"

            "James Bond. And may I say that it BLOWS and is TOTALLY INCORRECT! But there's nothing else on…well… 'The Fly' is on HBO but that movie isn't very good."

            "How can you say that?! Get the hell out of my house!" Nny yells. 

            "Oh come on! Half the movie is about the guy not being able to find anyone who can screw him long enough!" Vicky says nonchalantly, trying to catch another kernel of popcorn with her mouth.

            "But that's not the point! You miss the whole underlying message of the movie!"

            "The sequel was so much better!" Vicky exclaims, hotly.

            "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?! The sequel didn't have half the intellec…"

            "Bored now," Vicky says and turns the sound up on the TV. Johnny, quite on edge from the hangover, shoves the necklace he's holding in his pocket, getting quite pissed.

            "WHY IS IT THAT EVERY TIME SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T CONCERN YOU COMES UP YOU TOTALLY IGNORE ME?!"

            "Uh huh…" Vicky ignores him. Johnny snaps and rips the cord out of the TV. "HEY!"

            "I'M SICK OF THIS! I WANT YOU OUT OF HERE NOW!"

            "Oh, you think I WANT to live here?!" Vicky snaps back sitting up correctly and making sure her hat was on. "Whoa, head rush… I would leave but I don't have anywhere else to go!"

            "Too bad, so sad. SEE YA!" Nny opens the door for her and points the way out.

            "I'm NOT LEAVING! YOU WANT ME GONE, YOU'LL HAVE TO KILL ME FIRST!" Vicky stands up, sending popcorn flying everywhere.

            "THAT CAN BE ARRANGED!!!" Nny growls, stepping in her face. "AND WHAT IS IT WITH THE FUCKING SUNGLASSES?! YOU THINK YOU'RE COOL OR SOMETHING BECAUSE YOU WEAR THEM ALL THE TIME LIKE A DAMN RAPPER?!" Nny snatches the said sunglasses off Vicky's face before she can stop him. She screams and drops into a fetal position on the floor, whimpering as she covers her face, her hat falling off. Nny stares at her curiously for a moment before registering her new hair color.

            "That the hell did you do to your hair?"

            "It's my natural hair color, it's the only dye they had at the salon. NOW GIVE ME BACK MY SUNGLASSES!" Vicky screams, not lifting her head to look at him.

            "NO! My house, MY RULES! What's the big deal anyway?"

            "NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! GIVE ME BACK MY SUNGLASSES!" Vicky screams again and jumps up, still covering her face, and lunges for the sunglasses. Nny moves them out of the way and trips Vicky sending her crashing to the floor, forcing her to drop both her hands to catch herself.

            "Holy shit…" Nny exclaims, dropping the sunglasses once he finally sees her face for the first time without her sunglasses.

            "WHAT?! DON'T LAUGH AT ME!" Vicky whines, covering her face again.

            "Are you kidding me?"

            "Wha? Are you still drunk?" Vicky says, raising an eyebrow behind her fingers. Nny grabs Vicky's wrist and drags her down the stairs and into his room, shoving her in front of the mirror.

            "What is this all about, I don't get it Nny." Vicky growls. "This better not be some cruel joke…" Johnny sighs and steps beside her so both of their reflections are caught in the mirror.

            "Oh my giddy aunt…"

            "This is fucking creepy…"

            "Are you kidding?! THIS IS AWESOME! YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS DON'T YOU?!" Vicky jumps up and down.

            "No, it's not possible…IT CAN'T BE!"

            "YES! THIS IS SO COOL! IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!"

            "NO…NO…NO! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT IT!"

~          ~          ~

            Devi sits on the floor of her drawing room, staring at a canvas, surrounded by miscellaneous brushes and paints. She sighs.

            "Fuck."

            "That word again! Really Devi, you should enlarge your vocabulary," Sickness says from her own canvas, propped up in a corner.

            "Shut up Sickness, you're not helping the situation any."

            "I think it's a very nice painting, it really flatters him. But don't you want to take a rest? Maybe go see that mindless Pokémon movie that just came out?" 

            "Don't insult me, like I'd want to go see that badly drawn crap."

            "Ok, so you'd rather sit here and create more of these," Sickness says sarcastically. "You've already done a couple dozen. A few more and you could open your own gallery. Shouldn't you be working on that new cover for 'NERVE'?"

            "It started out as that," Devi says despondently. "Fuck."

            In front of Devi sits a dark painting of none other than Johnny, exactly the way she remembers him BEFORE he attacked her. Behind the painting are stacks of other paintings with the exact same subject.

            "Damn it, I thought I had gotten over this,"

            "I think it's cute. Maybe you should give him a call," Sickness suggests. "You can see the Pokémon movie together!"

            "Why the hell are you pushing the damn Pokémon movie?!"

            "It doesn't involve using…wait a minute…SHUT UP!"

            "What?" Devi eyes the doll painting and reaches up to play with her dagger necklace when she realizes it's not there. "Wha…FUCK! Where'd it go?!"

            "Where did what go?" Sickness asks, confused. Devi starts tearing the room apart.

            "SHIT! WHERE IS IT?!"

            "What?"

            "MY NECKLACE!!!"

            "How am I supposed to know? I'm just a painting… for now anyway…"

            Devi ignores Sickness and continues to thrash around her apartment looking for the necklace. 15 minutes later and she walks back into her drawing room, still not having found the necklace.

            "Where the hell is it?!" Devi turns and looks at the painting still on the easel. "Fuck…"

~          ~          ~

_            Devi helped Vicky drag Johnny out to his car, Vicky's injury from Nny making it hard for Vicky to take him out herself. The two girls tossed Johnny unceremoniously into the backseat. As Devi straightened up, she felt something get caught on his boot, but it either snapped or got uncaught, so Devi didn't think another thing of it. Vicky slammed the door shut, just barely missing shutting Nny's foot in it._

_            "Thanks for the help. So," Vicky chirped. "How do YOU know the mongrel?"_

_            "Um, we were friends a while back…" Devi said, refusing to admit they had gone on a date._

_            "Really? He has friends?" Vicky glanced over her shoulder at the unconscious Nny. He had fallen off the seat on to the floor of the car._

_            "Had; we haven't spoken for a while."_

_            "That makes total sense, he doesn't seem to get along with people well," Vicky mused for a moment, then she grinned._

_            *Creepy smile…* Devi thought._

_            "It was nice meeting you! We should get together sometime!"_

_            "Um… yeah…"_

_            "Well, I better go. Reverend Meat will probably want to hear all about this!" Vicky said and ran over to the driver's side. _

_            "Who the…"_

_            "BYE-E!" Vicky jumped in, started the car and swerved onto the road, causing a three car pile up at the entrance of the parking lot._

_            "How the fuck do some people get driver's licenses?"_

~          ~          ~

            "NO…NO…NO! I REFUSE TO ACCEPT IT!" Johnny yells.

            "DUDE! WE'RE TWINS!!!" Vicky exclaims, elated. The reflection reveals two identical round faces with the same blue eyes the only difference being Vicky's longer hair. Vicky's 'natural hair color' turns out to be the exact same blue-ish black "I ALWAYS WANTED A BROTHER! Well, actually I wanted a sister, but I suppose you'll do."

           "NO! I CAN'T BE RELATED TO AN IRRITATING, DISTURBED CHEERLEADER WANNA BE!" Nny yells, sitting down in the chair.

            "We have so much in common! I can't believe I didn't realize it before!" Vicky chirps, ignoring Nny once again.

            "What?!"

            "I mean, the same last name, I'm so stupid!"

            "I can agree with that…WHAT?! LAST NAME?!"

            "Yeah, I told you on the phone when I first called, remember? I said 'I'm Vicky C.' and…"

            "How many times do I have to tell you, I DIDN'T PUT THAT DAMN ARTICLE IN THE NEWSPAPER!"

            "I mean, from everything Meat told me, it's so obvious…" Vicky ignores him.

            "HAVE YOU BEEN TALKING TO THAT FUCKING BURGER BOY AGAIN?!" 

            Vicky starts bouncing up and down.

            "THIS IS SO COOL!"

            "I think I'm going to vomit…"

            Vicky stops bouncing and glares at Nny.

            "WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?! I finally find a relative and all you can do is whine…"

            "No, seriously. I'm gonna…" Nny cuts off and rushes from the room. Vicky hears gagging noises from the next room.

            "Ew…YOU'D BETTER CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF! I'M NOT YOUR MAID!"


	6. ISSUE SIX: 'The Cutting Edge'

**ISSUE SIX**

**'The Cutting Edge'**

            Johnny sits on his couch, very grumpy. His hangover is starting to go away, but he still has a dull headache and Vicky's been flitting around all day, thrilled she's found something that might be able to 'jumpstart her black hole of remembrance', whatever the hell she meant by that. Johnny's starting to hate her more than he ever had before and can't watch TV to get his mind off it as the cord is still ripped out.

            "You could accidentally bury her alive," Meat suggests.

            "No, I can't kill my supposed sister. Only deranged serial killers do that," Nny replies.

            "Um…yeah and you are?"

            "Didn't I leave you out in the car?" Nny growls.

            "Yes, but Vicky came out and got me to tell me the 'good news'."

            Nny sighs, pulls the dagger necklace out of his pocket, and watches it spin on the chain.

            "What's with the necklace? She can go buy another one. Or are you thinking that she'll forgive you if you return it in a big, romantic, kissing scene?"

            "Shut up."

            "Oh, that's an intelligent come back."

            Nny shoves the necklace back in his pocket and stands up.

            "I'm going out."

            "Don't forget to tell Vicky, she may want a…"

            Nny walks out, ignoring Meat.

~          ~          ~

            It's 10 PM, rather early for Johnny to be out but he couldn't stand the house any longer. He strolls along in the night air without direction, not watching the clear, star studded sky as he usually does but instead is flipping the necklace over and over in his hand. He's quite surprised Devi still wore it, unless she had strategically planted it in the car, which he certainly wouldn't put past her. Nny sighs.

            "Hey! That there's pretty cool lookin'! Where'd ya get it?" A grating southern accent sounds for over Nny's shoulder.

            "What the hell?!" Nny exclaims, irritated, shoving the necklace back in his pocket. "Why are you following me?!"

            "Meat said you went out for a walk, I thought I'd join you. And I'm a tad hungry. Do you know your kitchen's empty?" Vicky falls into step next to Johnny. "I figured we could do some brother/sister bonding…"

            "LOOK! You are NOT my sister! I don't know why you look like me, but if this turns into some '6th Day' crap, you're dead!" Nny snaps.

            "Well SORRY! But it's not like you couldn't use some social interaction, HERMIT!" Vicky snaps back. "Ooo! LOOK! Let's go in Taco Hell!"

            *Must…get…away…* Johnny thinks and looks desperately around for either a place to hide or a dumpster to throw Vicky in to. Luckily, he spots an ice skating rink with a torn poster on the outside reading

…PLE FIGURE SKATING COMPETITION

Amateur's Welcome!

TONIGHT

            An evil grin spreads across Nny's face and he starts for the doors.

            "Hey Nny, where ya goin'? The restaurant's thata way!" Vicky chirps, following Johnny.

            Not answering, Johnny steps in the doors followed by a curious Vicky. No sooner do they walk in then they are accosted by a pudgy, squat little man in a suit.

            "Why hello! Are you here for the competition?" He shakes Vicky's hand enthusiastically.

            "Wha? Competition? Huh?" Vicky stutters.

            "Yes, she is!" Johnny pipes up.

            "What the f…"

            "She always gets nervous, needs some incentive…" Johnny informs the man.

            "Oh, I know exactly what you mean," he nods, and then yells to two very large, very buff, tall men in white shirts. "CHARLIE! PHIL! We need some help over here!"

            The two men walk over.

            "Right this way miss…" They grab both of Vicky's arms and start literally dragging her down the hall.

            "WHAT?! Let go OF ME! Johnny! HELP!" She pleads, looking over her shoulder. Nny simply grins and waves. "OOOOO! I'M GONNA KILL YOU NNY! LET GO! NOW! Please?" Nny snickers as Vicky starts whimpering and heads towards the exit. The squat man steps in front of him however, preventing his escape.

            "Where are you going sir? The dressing room is this way."

            "What? No, I'm not…"

            "You two ARE here for the Couples' Figure Skating Competition, right?"

            "WHAT?! COUPLES'?!?!"

            Vicky finally realizes what's going on, brakes away from the guard people, and rushes to Nny's side.

            "Why of course we are, aren't we dear Brother?"

            "Huh? NO! I DO NOT…"

            "Oh don't be silly, Brother of mine. We worked SO hard on our program," Vicky purrs, wearing her sickeningly sweet smile. "Really, HE'S the one who gets the jitters."

            On cue, 'Charlie and Phil' step up on either side of Johnny.

            "Hold it Sparky! No grunt head is man handling me!" Johnny threatens.

            "Just ignore him, he's full of hot air," Vicky whispers.

            "This way sir," The two very big men start dragging Johnny, protesting and thrashing the whole way. Vicky follows, grinning.

~          ~          ~

            Johnny lands with an 'OOF!' on the floor as the guards walk away after throwing him in a grey room with a large closet on one wall and multiple doors on another, apparently separate changing rooms. Nny leaps up and rushes to attack them, but Vicky steps in his way, two pairs of black ice skates slung over her shoulder.

            "Whoa! Chill 'Sparky'," Vicky snickers.

            "BITCH!" Is all Johnny can say in response, too pissed to string together a sentence.

            "Why thank you!" Vicky chirps, tossing a pair of skates at Nny. He hurls the blades at her, but she rushes to the closet, making him miss.

            "COSTUMES!" She exclaims, starting to pull out different combinations. "Whaddaya say, Nny? Purple feathers or neon green spandex?"

            "I WILL NOT WEAR SPANDEX!!!" Nny screams. "AND THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I'M ICE DANCING!"

            "HEY! YOU GOT US IN TO THIS!" Vicky screams back.

            "ONLY TO GET AWAY FROM YOU!"

            "Well, I guess it backfired! Hehe!" Vicky bubbles. "AND IT'S FIGURE SKATING! NOT ICE DANCING!" She growls, shaking a skate blade in his face. "OOOO! SEQUINS!" Vicky rushes back over to the closet and pulls out a very shinny, very sequiny, black one piece skating outfit with a skirt. "Look! There's a matching one!" She pulls out an equally sequiny, black long sleeved, button up male's shirt.

            "I wear nothing that shimmers." 

            Vicky steps up to him, putting her face in his.

            "Get dressed," She growls in a very low, inhuman voice. Then she picks up her outfit and skips over to a changing room, slamming the door behind her. Johnny stares after her, creeped out from her demonic voice.

~          ~          ~

            A few moments later, Vicky and Johnny step onto the edge of the ice rink, several couples of people already practicing their routines as random songs play over the loud speakers.

            "This is going to be fun!" Vicky chirps, watching as a nearby couple spins around. 

            "You have got to be kidding me," Nny mumbles as a different man to his right who happens to be swinging his companion around in a circle, accidentally lets go and sends her flying into the audience. Nny snickers in spite of it.

            Vicky watches some girl dressed in bright pink do a pretty impressive back flip, landing gracefully and stepping into a spin. Vicky elbows Nny.

            "Dude, I can do that! Watch this!" Vicky boasts and steps onto the ice, promptly slipping and falling on her ass. Nny raises an eyebrow at her.

            "Oh wow, I am so impressed. Please show me again your wondrous talent," Nny replies in a sarcastic, monotone voice. Vicky shoots him a pissed look.

            "Shut up. It takes a minute to get used to the ice," Vicky says and gets up, standing for a moment, then falling again. Nny yawns.

            "I'm waiting."

            "SHUT UP!" Vicky turns around and starts skating towards him to attack. Nny steps to the side and, unable to stop, Vicky goes crashing into the rink's wall, sliding down into heap on the floor. "Ow."

            Just then, the girl in pink from before skates up to Vicky's crumpled figure.

            "Aw, how cute! I absolutely love watching uncoordinated newbie's come out and try to skate in competition!" The girls says, then she leans over Vicky, speaking to her as one would a stupid dog. "See this," She points the jagged end of her skate. "This is called a 'Toe Pick'. You use it to stop, watch." The girl skates away, then comes back, spraying Vicky with ice shavings. Vicky, incensed jumps up and tries to tackle the girl, but falls flat on her face. The girl skates by again.

            "Toe pick!"

            Johnny rolls his eyes at the stupid cat fight and watches as several people in suits, apparently the judges, come to watch the warm up. Johnny makes no move to go on the ice, and entertains himself by watching everyone make complete idiots of themselves. Vicky falls again after she tries to do a spinning jump ("Toe pick!") and comes crawling over to the side where Nny stands, pulling herself up on her feet using the wall. She stands for a moment then takes Nny by surprise and shoves him onto the ice, grinning evilly. He, however, easily catches himself and does a graceful figure eight before turning around to face Vicky. He grins at her and skates away. Vicky rushes to strangle him, but trips and is sent crashing into some guy in red, causing him to miss catching his partner who falls on her head. The pink girl comes by again.

            "Toe pick!"

            Nny comes to a slow stop smack dab in the middle of the rink, trying to find a way out of the crowd, the morons who thought they were good skaters (but were very much mistaken) blocking his way. As he stands there, getting more irritated by the minute, the previous song that had been playing (REM's "It's the End of the World As We Know It") ends and the chords to what has to be one of the most annoying songs on Earth starts.

            "Raging horror!" Nny gasps, cringing. "Not…. MMMBOP! NO!" He screams as the girly sounding lead singer starts the lyrics. "It's like some freak is trying to torture me with every sucky song they know!" Just then, some ugly chick dressed in orange and black with what appears to be the band's logo on the front and glasses skates up to Nny.

            "HEY! DON'T YOU BE DISSING HANSON! YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS 'CAUSE THEY'RE HOTTER THAN YOU!" She yells at him. Nny considers her for a moment, and then grins as he's struck by 'inspiration'. He backs up a few feet, skates and leaps into a perfect triple lutz, spinning in the air, before landing on the girl's head. Johnny then skates off with perfect grace, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

            "OOO! AND HE NAILS THAT LANDING PERFECTLY!" He announces for himself, starting to finally enjoy himself. "Here's comes his layback spin!" Johnny stops and starts spinning on one blade, slitting the throats of everyone around him with his other extended leg. "BEAUTIFUL! LOOK AT THAT SPRAY!"

~          ~          ~

_"I'M NOT ICE DANCIN'!" A little boy, probably five or six, screamed pouting, his bluish-black hair slicked back. He stood with his arms crossed at the edge of a large indoor, private ice skating rink. He was dressed in khaki pants and a 'high brow' dark blue sweater which set off his blue eyes. _

_            "IT'S NOT ICE DANCIN'! IT'S FIGURE SKATING!" A little girl, the same height as the boy, dressed in the same color sweater and a matching plaid skirt, yelled at him._

_            "I DON'T CARE! IT'S GIRLY!" He yelled back at his sister._

_            "SO ARE YOU!" They gave each other the evil eye (AKA the squinty eye/big eye look) and looked as if they were ready to tackle each other. Just then, the two were scooped up by very motherly figure._

_            "Now you two, knock it off, silly gooses!!" She says, looking at the twins with very kind blue eyes, long bluish-black hair cascading down her shoulders._

_            "Sorry Mommy!" The little girl said, flinging her arms around the mother's neck. The mother smiled and planted a kiss on both of the children's foreheads._

_            "Now Johnny-boy, won't you please skate just one more time, you're so good! For me?" The mother pleads, pretending to pout. Little Johnny giggled._

_            "OK. Just for you Mommy!" Johnny grinned a huge smile and the mother put the two down and ruffled Johnny's gelled hair, giving him his classic disheveled look_

_            The two children (who already had their skates on) stepped on to the rink and though Johnny started a lazy Choctaw for warm up easily, his sister instantly slipped and fell._

_            "Oh, be careful, Vicky-hun!" Her mother exclaimed, trying to stifle her laughter. Just then a tall, thin man in a crisp suit walked into the rink area. He gave off the air of a man that's always busy and never puts up with any crap what so ever._

_"There you three are!" He said  upon entering._

_            "Hi Daddy!" Vicky chirped from her seat on the ice._

_            "Hello _Victoria___, sweetie," The father said. He cast a cold glace at Johnny. "Fix your hair, Jonathon. And what did I say about this ice skating nonsense? What kind of sport is that for future lawyer?" _

_            Johnny obediently smoothed his hair back and started off the ice._

_            "But Daddy, I don't want..." Johnny started._

_            "Don't be ridiculous, you're too young to know what you want," His father said. "Victoria, sweetheart, it's time for your violin lesson." Their father rushed out._

_            When Johnny got to the edge of the rink, his mother scooped him up again._

_            "Don't you listen to your father," she told him. "You can be anything you want to be. It's all up to you," She gave him a kiss and set him down. "Now, go help you sister out before she kills herself." Johnny grinned, gave his mom a hug, then skated off to help Vicky._

~          ~          ~

            Johnny ends a Sal chow jump with a spray of ice and strikes a pose as the song ends. Around him, strewn all over the ice, are mutilated bodies, the result of Nny's program. Vicky sits on the ice a few feet away from Nny, looks around and throws her hands up in an attempt to strike a pose as a well. After a few moments passes by, Nny shoots an expecting look over his shoulder at the judges, who sit stunned at what they just witnessed. When they catch Nny's look, they scramble for their score cards.

            "10!"

            "10!"

            "10!"

            "10!"

            "10!"

            "9.9!"

            "WHAT! 9.9?! DON'T YOU KNOW ARTISTIC TALENT WHEN YOU SEE IT!?!?" Johnny yells, skates over, and chops the offending judge's head with the discarded skate on a foot Nny severed during a perfect Flying Camel Sit spin.

            Nny shoots a dark glance at the rest of the judges. They quickly scramble to give Nny the gold medal.

            "You win by default!"

            "WAIT MINUTE!" A bitchy sounding voice croaks. Everyone turns and sees the girl in the pink outfit from before crawling along the ice. "I'M STILL ALIVE! I DEMAND A RECOUNT!"

            "Ahem," someone clears their throat above her. Low and behold, there stands Vicky with her skates in her hands that she'd already taken off, grinning an insane, Nny-like smile.

            "Two words," Vicky brakes the blade off one of the skates. "Toe pick." Vicky rams the blade through the girl's eye and out the back of her head. The judges gawk at Vicky as she yanks the blade out of the girl's head. Nny grabs the medal and walks out of the rink area.

            "See!? That wasn't as bad as you thought it would be!" Vicky exclaims cheerily, running up behind him.

            "Well, I suppose not," Nny grins at his medal. "But where the hell is the dressing room? I want to get out of this God awful shirt."

            "The next door to the right," Vicky chirps, a little TOO happily this time. As the doors close behind Nny, the words 'Ice rink 2; Hockey tonight!' come into view. "Oops, I meant to the left," she adds slyly.

~          ~          ~

            Nny walks on, quite oblivious to his surroundings, inspecting his medal. He's quite pleased he had finally gotten awarded for SOMETHING. Nny starts to shine the medal with his shirt sleeve, when he's hit hard with something in the stomach, sending him flying to the ground.

            "What the fuck?" Nny coughs, sitting up and picking up a small, black disk. Nny, recognizing it to be a hockey puck, looks up, and sees a legion of giant football players on skates carrying sticks, stampeding towards him.

            "Oh shit..." Nny leaps up and tries to skate away as fast as he can

~          ~          ~

            "YEAH! KICK HIS ASS!" Vicky cheers, munching on popcorn and waving one of those big foam fingers around. She giggles from her front row seat as Nny skates frantically around the ice, trying to get away from the human zambonis. Nny slams in to the glass in front of her.

            "Why hello Brother dear," Vicky coos. "Having fun? Now you play nice with the big boys!"

            "I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!" Nny screams hoarsely, scratching at the glass to get to her.

            "Isn't payback a bitch?" Vicky comments. "Look out behind you."

           Nny whirls around but isn't fast enough to get away; he's body slammed into the glass, chomping down on his tongue. Vicky pulls out a camera from nowhere and snaps a picture as Nny spits out some blood. Nny quickly regains himself and skates as fast as he can down to the other end of the arena. He's once again hit with the puck and this time crashes into the goalie, the two of them and the net crashing into the wall behind them. The buzzer sounds.

           "GOAL!!!" The announcer yells and everyone leaps up and cheers. Vicky body slams some guy standing next to her.

            "Who're you rooting for?" He asks.

            "Everyone but the guy in black," She chirps in reply.


	7. ISSUE SEVEN: For Whom the Bell Tolls

**ISSUE SEVEN**

**For Whom the ****Bell**** Tolls**

Devi sits in her car, a nervous wreck. She'd left her apartment without even thinking, got in the car and drove out to where she is currently sitting; across the street and a few houses down from 777. She doesn't know if anybody's home, even though Johnny's car is parked out front. She remembers he didn't use it very much.

            Devi figures if Vicky's there, she could just get the necklace from her and she wouldn't even have to see Johnny. Or maybe no one had even found it and it was still in the car. She's praying that the latter was true. All these questions are answered, however, as Devi sees who's walking around the corner. She slouches down in her seat, trying to not draw attention to herself.

            Johnny walks around the corner, preceded by Vicky, who's skipping along in a black squiny outfit, complete with her sunglasses and sporting a new hair color. Nny pays no attention; he's fiddling with something in his hand. As he tosses it up in the air, Devi sees that it's her dagger necklace.

           "Fuck!!" Devi curses under her breath. "What the hell is wrong with me?!" Devi quickly starts her car, and zooms off.

            She doesn't see that Nny had indeed noticed her car and is watching her drive away.

~          ~          ~

_Devi stood at the counter in the book store, bored out her mind when some dude with really puffy hair walked up to her._

_            "Excuse me miss, can you help me? I'm looking for a book called The Complete Guide to Getting It On." He asked. Devi turned around to gaze at the giant pyramid of books that sat behind the register with a poster that read "The Complete Guide to Getting It On" in big letters with an arrow pointing down at the pyramid. She turned back around._

_            "Are you sure you can't find it?"_

_            "Oh yes, I've looked all around and can't seem to find it anywhere," he said, completely serious. Devi sighed and grabbed a book from behind her._

_            "OH MY GOD! YOU FOUND IT! YOU'RE A GENIUS!" The guy exclaimed, quickly flipping through the pages. "Hey, when I finish this, you want to..."_

_            "No!" Devi shoved his change at him and rushed out from behind the counter. As she hurried away from the inept customer, she spotted a dark shadow in the corner of her eye. When she turned to see who it was though, it quickly ducked in an aisle. Devi smirked and strode over._

_            In the next aisle over stood Johnny, pretending to be intently reading a book even though he was holding it upside down._

_            "Enjoying your book, Nny?" Devi asked._

_            "Of course I am," He pretended to flip a page._

_            "Do you even know what it's called?"_

_            "Why it's..." He paused and looked at the front cover. "'The Babysitters' Club'? ICK!" He quickly tossed it back on the shelf. Devi giggled, making Johnny grin._

_            "Hey, I got something for you..." Nny said kind of shyly, pulling something out of his pocket. He handed her a necklace with a really cool, decorative dagger with a silver skull and a snake dangling from it._

_            "Wow Johnny... it's beautiful..." Devi said, stunned by the gift._

_            "Yeah, I saw it and thought you might like it."_

_            "Hey, Nny, what's that red splotch?"_

_            Johnny panicked and quickly grabbed the necklace back, cleaned the spot off and handed it back to her. Devi smiled._

_            "Hey, are you doing anything tomorrow night?"_

~          ~          ~

            Johnny sits at a desk in his house, working on his latest installment of Happy Noodle Boy. He's going along nicely, and is almost finished with the comic when he stops and looks up.

            "What's the matter?" Meat pipes up. "Run out of insanity?"

            "It's quiet...TOO quiet. It's almost peaceful," Nny looks around. "Where's Vicky?"

            "I believe she went out to get some shoes to match that new sequin number of hers," Meat informs him. "I still think you should've kept that shirt."

            "Vicky's gone?!" Nny jumps up exclaiming. "WHOOHOOOOO!!! QUICK! Where's the padlock so she can't get back in?!" He starts rooting around in a nearby box when he hears the door slam.

            "JOHNNY! LOOK WHAT I GOT!" Vicky's voice yells down at him. 

            "Shit, too late," Nny looks up as he hears Vicky thundering down the steps. "QUICK! HIDE ME!" Nny scurries under the desk just as Vicky bursts into the room.

            "JOH… Hey, where is he?" Vicky looks around, confused.

            "Under the desk," Meat informs her.

            "TRAITOR!" Nny hisses from his hiding place. Vicky squats down and looks in at Nny.

            "Comfortable?" She asks. But she stands up before Nny can answer. "Look what I got!" Vicky sets something on top of the desk. Nny crawls out and peers over the edge of the desk. There sits a little, kind of rusty, bell, the kind that they have at reception desks in hotels.

            "What the hell is that?" Nny raises an eyebrow at it.

            "Well," Vicky takes a big breath then starts talking very rapidly. "I was walking along to the shoe store when I saw this really cute yard sale so I just had to stop and look and found this bell there and I absolutely loved it! But, see, the stupid little rabid gnome who running the yard sale was trying to over charge me for the bell so I had to ram this pair of skis up her ass. It was really kinda of funny, but anyway, I figured since you hate talking to me anyway, then I'll just ignore you until you ring the little bell that way I'd know you want to talk to me and you don't have to worry about me bothering you until you ring the bell starting…" She checks her watch. "Now!"

            Johnny blinks at her, amazed she could talk that long without stopping for breath.

            "What the hell did you just say?" Nny raises an eyebrow.

            "I'm sorry, I can't respond; you didn't ring the bell," Vicky replies matter of factly.

            "I'm not ringing that stupid…"

            "Sorry, can't hear you," Vicky sits at the desk.

            "Look, I refuse to tap that retarded little piece of shit…"

            "La la lalala laaa!" Vicky ignores him. Nny tries unsuccessfully to control his quickly rising anger.

            "You're insane if you think…"

            "YOU HAVE TO RING THE BELL!" Vicky exclaims, then goes back to her calm state.

            "I AM NOT RINGING THAT FUCKING BELL, YOU SCHIZO BITCH!" Nny yells at her. She yawns and points to the bell. Nny finally gives in and slams his hand down on the bell.

            "Yes, brother dearest? How may I help you?" Vicky replies placidly.

            "YOU ARE ONE PSYCHOTIC FREAK IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO HIT THAT GOD FORSAKEN BELL EVERY GOD DAMN TIME I WANT TO GIVE YOU MY TWO CENTS!!!" Nny yells.

            "EVERYTIME I TRY TO TALK YOU ALWAYS YELL AT ME AND TELL ME TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! SOOOOORRRRYYYY FOR TRYING TO MAKE THINGS EASIER FOR YOU!" Vicky yells back.

            "YOU FU…" Nny starts to reply.

            "I'm sorry, you didn't ring the bell, I can't respond to you," Vicky informs him calmly.

            "AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHH!!!" Nny makes strangling motions at her and thunders out of the room.

            "So I guess you don't like my bell idea then?" Vicky calls curiously after him.

~          ~          ~

            Devi paces back and forth in her drawing room, in deep, concerned thought. She pauses at one end of the room, then spins around on her heel and walks to the other side of her room before repeating the ritual. Sickness watches her from her canvas.

            "FUCK! What the hell is wrong with me?!" Devi exclaims as she spins around again.

            "I don't see what the big deal is, just go whack him on the head with a brick, grab the necklace and run," Sickness offers.

            "Somehow, I doubt that would work," Devi paces some more. She knocks over an old photo album on her next pass though. Letting out a pissed sigh, she stoops down to pick of the pictures that had fallen out, she sometimes used them to help think of ideas for her paintings. Devi grabs a few of her and some old friends in school. She pauses and looks over the picture, but the memories that usually rise in her head when she looks at them don't come. Devi finds this a little strange but thinks nothing of it; she's having a troubled week. Sickness starts to scold her again just as the alarm clock rings.

            "Damn it! I'm gonna be late for that freakin' meeting!" Devi starts shoving different sketches and papers in her portfolio, snatches her NERVE ID card and rushes out the front door.

            Once Devi is driving down the road, her internal battle over the necklace starts again. Really, she hated Johnny with the fire a thousand burning suns and that necklace was just a reminder of the soulless son of a bitch. Why should she give a damn about it?

            But, at the same time, Devi felt some kind of attachment to it. Like in some screwed up way it was part of her and even though she hates Nny beyond the capacity of rational thought, it still gave a vague memory of a time where for once she had a semblance of a normal social life, well more than she does now. In this tornado of a life, if we didn't have something to hold on to, we would surely go insane.

            Devi parks her car, grabs her portfolio and rushes up to the door before she realizes where she is.

            "Fuck."

            She's standing in front of 777.

            Devi smacks her hand on her forehead. She stands on the stoop for a second or two before sighing and hitting the doorbell.

            "BZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"

            Devi leaps back from the door, staring at the doorbell, horrified. She timidly steps back up to the door and knocks on it. Devi waits a few moments before, getting quite impatient, she leans over and peeks in the boarded up windows, meeting another pair of eyes who's owner promptly yelps and from the loud 'THUMP', Devi guesses whoever it was fell down.

            "VICKY!" A pissed voice yells from inside. Devi raises an eyebrow at the door. She hears a few muffled comments and is debating if she should stay or not when the door swings open.

            "Hullo?" A head sticks out of the door.

            "JOHNNY! What did you do to your hair?!" Devi exclaims. "It's…long!"

            "Huh?" The person gives her a confused look. "Oh, I'm not Johnny. It's me! Vicky!"

            "Wha?" Devi stares at her, dumbfounded.

~          ~          ~

            Johnny sits behind the television, trying to shove the cord he yanked out a few days earlier back in the set so he could watch TV. He's no handyman however and so is having no success when the doorbell rings. He gets up grumbling and grabs a weapon, hoping it's a door to door salesman; Nny has a lot of pent of tension. Johnny peers out the crack of the boarded up windows as someone knocks. He doesn't see anything and is about to go back to the TV when out of nowhere two very familiar, piercing jade eyes pop up in front of him.

            "ACK!" Nny yelps, taken by surprise. He trips and falls down, dropping the weapon, before realizing whose eyes they were. Nny instantly knows whose fault this visit must be. "VICKY!"

            "Wha?" Vicky trudges up the stairs drearily.

            "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

            "What are you talking about?"

            "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU INVITED HER OVER HERE!"

            "Somebody came to visit?!" Vicky is instantly cheerier and rushes to the door.

           "NO! DON'T LET HER IN! I CAN'T SEE HER! ESPECIALLY AFTER THE PUNCH INCIDENT!" Nny yells, but Vicky has already stuck her head out.

            "Hullo?"

            Nny frantically searches for a place to hide and ends up hiding behind the door.

            "JOHNNY! What did you do to your hair?" Devi exclaims. "It's…long."

            "Huh?" Vicky gives her a quizzical look. "Oh, I'm not Johnny. It's me! Vicky!"

            "Wha?" Devi stares at her dumbfounded. Vicky grabs Nny and drags him out of his hiding place.

            "WE'RE TWINS!" Vicky squeezes Nny. He frantically pushes her off of him.

            "GET OFF OF ME! YOU ARE NOT RELATED TO ME, ALIEN SPAWN! YOU HAVE NO PROOF!" Nny glares at her then remembers Devi's standing there. "Oh, uh, hello Devi…"

            Devi holds her portfolio up as a shield.

            "…hi…"

            "Somebody needs a nap," Vicky sneers, ignoring Nny and Devi's little 'moment'. "He's still in denial. So, how can we help you?"

            "Uh… you know what? Never mind… I shouldn't be here…" Devi starts to back up.

            "You can't stay?" Vicky looks crestfallen, much like a child who was just told she couldn't have the pony she wanted.

            "No…I…uh…have to drop stuff off at work…NERVE…" Devi holds up her ID card as if she needs to prove she works there.

            *There's that NERVE again, why is that so familiar?* Nny thinks to himself. Just then, something flashes in his mind.

            _-"…need a place…"-_

            *nerve*

            _-"…got kicked out…*-_

            *Nerve*

            _-"…always take care of our employees…*-_

            *NERVE*

            The flash pierces through Johnny's mind like an arrow through a paper target. He snatches the ID card of out Devi's hand without even realizing it, inspects it for a moment, and then rushes across the room and down the stairs celerity.

            "HEY!" Devi yells after him. Devi and Vicky exchange confused glances before Vicky follows in hot pursuit. Devi reluctantly tags along.

            Johnny doesn't say a word as he races through the house, he's on the verge of something and he's afraid if he opens his mouth it might fall out. Nny comes to a screeching halt in front of a door that looks like it hasn't been opened in a long time. Nny tests the knob but it doesn't budge. Vicky and Devi catch up to him.

            "What the hell is that creepy looking machine back there?" Devi asks, a tad creeped out.

            Nny doesn't acknowledge her as he steps back and kicks the door open. Nny steps in and hits the light switch by the door. A bright fluorescent bulb flickers on casting light on the room which surprisingly looks much less run down than the rest of the house; it appears as though someone had tried to fix it up at one point. A thin layer of dust covers everything making it obvious that no one had been in there for a few years. On the wall opposite the door is a drawing desk covered with different art supplies and papers, next to the desk is an easel with paint stains all over the floor beneath it. Along the wall to the right is a different, regular writing desk, a bulletin board covered with photographs above it. A table with a stereo and CD's piled haphazardly sits next it and on the left wall is another door.

            Nny pauses a moment in the doorway before rushing to the drawing desk and sifting through the papers. Vicky and Devi step in the room timidly.

            "Nny, what the hell is going on?!" Vicky demands.

            "The Doughboys never let me in here…where is it?... Always said…DAMN! WHERE DID IT GO?!" Nny mumbles, mostly to himself. Devi stays just inside the doorway watching Nny with a curious look.

            "What the fuck does he mean by 'doughboys'?"

            "Styrofoam figures that used to talk to him before he got shot," Vicky informs her mindlessly, more preoccupied with the contents of the room.

            "Oh," Devi nods as if she understands, then pauses when what Vicky said registers in her head. "Wait a minute…"

            But Vicky has already moved on and is inspecting the bulletin with the photos. The photos range from very old and beat up to fairly new looking. Vicky scans them with bated breath as she sees the subject of most the pictures. Some of them are Johnny, at various ages, with a small group of people whom Vicky had never seen before. A few others were of Vicky herself, also at various ages. One is of her holding her violin, probably before a concert, another is of both Vicky and Johnny, probably about 5 or 6, standing in front of an ice skating rink. The one that grabs Vicky's attention, though, is a picture that appears to have been torn in half. Vicky holds her breath as she reaches in her pocket and pulls out her own torn picture. As she matches the two pieces up, a tear trickles down her cheek. The two pictures combine to show the youthful Vicky leaning on her brother, Johnny, both of them grinning madly. The hand on Vicky's shoulder belongs to a very kind, beautiful woman whom Vicky instantly recognizes though she hasn't seen her in years.

            "Mom…" Vicky whispers. She looks down on the writing desk and sees a silver frame, inside it a professional shot of her mother. Something flashes through Vicky's mind.

            _The silver frames sat on top of a wooden surface. A solemn occasion…why was everybody crying?_

            "FOUND IT!" Nny exclaims, snapping Vicky out of her thoughts. She sniffs and rushes over to him. Devi carefully steps up behind Vicky and looks over her shoulder. Nny sets down Devi's ID card and then next to it places a second one, his own.

            "I think…I remember…" Nny starts, staring at the cards. He backs up and walks over to the second door. When he grabs this handle, though, it turns easier and swings open. Nny hits another switch and a large room lights up, the walls covered from top to bottom with different paintings and drawings. Vicky and Devi follow him into the gallery.

            "Oh my…" Vicky says as Devi steps up to the closest painting and inspects it. She spots Johnny's initials hidden in the corner of it.

            "This is stunning…" Devi breathes, her love for art winning over her contempt for Johnny.

            "I…used to work for NERVE…" Nny starts up again, leaning against the door frame, staring. "I was kicked out of where I was living before and took a job there to pay for the rent… I did cover art," He pauses. "Well, I tried anyway…they…"

            "Drove you insane with revisions?" Devi offers, still facing the paintings.

            "Yeah," Nny says, slightly surprised. "I think…I stole the Doughboys from the wretched little café they have on the ground floor….I don't know, it's still kind of fuzzy…I put all my favorites in here…"

            Vicky and Devi walk through the gallery. The age of the paintings is fairly obvious. The oldest ones contain the most details and are the most breathtaking. As the paintings get newer, they start losing detail, like the artist had started losing more and more of himself.

            Vicky has stopped at one of the intermediate paintings, captured by the scene.

            "Johnny…" She whispers. Johnny looks up and walks over to the painting.

~          ~          ~

            _The rain poured down relentlessly on the crowd, a mass of umbrellas hiding all of their heads except for one little boy's as church bells toll in the distance. An emaciated form of about 12 or 13 stood stolidly at the edge of a square hole, all by himself. He was totally drenched and reminded one very much of a drowned rat, but he didn't really care. A priest stood at the head of the hole, speaking to the black clad crowd, though none of them really listened, the rain made it hard for anyone to pay attention._

_            The boy was lost in his own mournful thoughts. Behind him, he vaguely heard the hard sobs of his sister crying into the cold figure of his father. The boy ignored the sobs and stared at the dripping, flower covered casket as it was lowered into the ground. The boy never shed a tear, though. He had promised his mother that he'd be strong for her and his sister. He gave a depressed sigh as his mother's body was lowered down. He wanted to cry out and stop the men from putting her down there; she'd be too lonely by herself. But he held his ground said nothing while the priest finished the last rights. As the mourning crowd started to disperse, the priest walked up to the boy and handed him the silver frame that sat on top of her casket from the wake. The priest tried to say some comforting words but the world was silent to the boy, all except the scuffing of shovels as they poured wet earth on top of the casket and the bells. The priest walked away, leaving the boy clutching the frame. His detested father's stern, harsh, emotionless voice called him._

_            "Jonathon! Let's go! I have a meeting to get to," His father and the still heaving sister started toward the car under the cover of the umbrella._

_            "My name is Johnny," The boy growled, clenching his fists._

~          ~          ~

            Vicky and Johnny stand in front of the dark painting of the funeral, tears trickling down Vicky's face. They exchange looks, that bizarre twin 6th sense telling them that they had just had the memory. 

            Devi watches from a few feet away, she knew something was happening; there was something flickering in both Johnny and Vicky's dark eyes. Devi takes a glance at the funeral painting. There's nothing quite eye-catching about the painting, it was one of the less detailed ones, but it there was so much feeling in it. It captures the soul.

            "Devi…" Johnny pipes up, not turning to face her. "How far back in your life do you remember?"

            "What?!" Devi gives him a strange look. "What do you mean by that?!"

            Johnny turns around.

            "What's the earliest thing you remember?"

            Devi's taken back by the meaningful look in his usually soulless eyes, a shadow of something Devi can't quite put her finger on. She pauses and thinks back, trying to remember her earliest memory. She expects to be able to respond with some cheesy kindergarten finger painting memory, but is shocked with her result. Just like when she looked at the pictures at home earlier.

            Johnny doesn't need a response from Devi, he already knows the answer.

            "You're losing your memory too…"

            "This is all your fault!" Devi pipes up, starting to get angry, not wanting to accept the truth. "I never had any of these problems till I met you! You…"

            "No," Vicky stops Devi's rants with her hoarse voice. "It's not Johnny's fault. This has something to do with NERVE."

            "What do you mean?" Devi asks, still cranky. Vicky pulls out an old, beat up wallet from her pocket and takes out a card from it.

            "I use to work at NERVE too…"


	8. ISSUE EIGHT: Elevator Fever

**ISSUE EIGHT**

**Elevator Fever**

            Johnny rushes into the mirror room in his house to grab a few weapons before he leaves. Vicky, having made the connection between the three of them and NERVE, was positive that there were answers to be found at the NERVE headquarters. This was all speculation, however, so they didn't really have a definite plan. Luckily, Vicky was able to persuade Devi to join them which was a good thing because she knew the turf better and her presence would prevent Johnny from just barging in and slaughtering people till he got answers, which was his original thought. Not that he cared what she thought; he had tried his hardest on his little trip away from home to eliminate all feelings for her and kept reminding himself of this fact. He couldn't let emotions get in his way on this trip. Devi insisted she drove, though, having been witness to both Johnny and Vicky's driving before.

            "Why are you in such as rush?" Reverend Meat inquires from a corner as Nny bustles around the room.

            "None of your damn business," Nny simply states, looking for where he had put his trench coat. 

            "We're awfully testy today. Was that your would-be girlfriend I heard earlier?"

            "Shut the FUCK UP BURGER BOY!" Nny growls through clench teeth, quickly getting sick of Meat.

            "You don't really want to go on this stupid adventure, do you?" Meat asks calmly.

            "What are you talking about?"

            "This trip to NERVE. What's in the past is in the past. They can't help you."

            "How do you…"

            "Nny, you've known me for how long now? I'm a part of you, just like the Doughboys were. Only my job is less destructive as theirs. Now please, give up this garbage. Getting your memory restored won't help anything…"

            "How do you know I would get my memory restored? That possibility never crossed my mind," Nny questions.

            "…I didn't mean to say that…"

            "So they are the root of it all, aren't they? Otherwise they wouldn't…"

            "Really Johnny-boy," Meat cuts him off. "Get off it. You've never needed your past before, you've been doing absolutely fine without it."

            "You're joking right? Feeding a bloody wall qualifies as 'absolutely fine'?"

            "Different folks, different strokes! I mean, there's really nothing to be learned from the past…"

            "I have no past to learn from."

            "My point exactly!" Meat points out. "So you don't really want to go to NERVE."

            "I don't want to go…" Nny pauses to consider this.

            "That's it…" Meat starts triumphantly.

            "Or YOU don't want me to go?" Nny cuts him off, narrowing his eyes at the little statue.

            "Well, of cour…I mean, what utter nonsense…"

            "You don't want me to go because if I regain my memory, there will no longer be a need of you, is that it? You would cease to exist, having failed!" Nny tries to piece it all together.

            "Johnny, you don't know what's in that building. It's horrific…"

            "Nice try, but I'M NOT LISTENING TO YOU!" Nny yells at it.

            "Fine, I see I'm not going to persuade you. The answers you seek are in the basement level…"

            "Is it now? I'm not a moron. Thanks for the tip off, we'll go to the top," Johnny picks up Meat and dumps his in the circular waste basket on his way out of the room.

            "JOHNNY!" Meat yells, but Nny ignores him. As Nny walks out the door, he spots Vicky leaning against the wall, waiting for him to come out. She's been much happier now she has definite proof that the two psychos were related. Nny still isn't sure if this is a good thing, but he's a tad glad to have someone else going with them. Vicky is humming to herself as she spins a small dagger in her hand.

            "You're kidding, right?" Nny raises an eyebrow at the pitiful weapon. "You're not going armed with that, are you?" Vicky hugs it protectively.

            "It's my favorite!" She pouts. Nny rolls his eyes and steps over to a large closet door. He swings it open, revealing a wall covered with a multitude of different knives, sickles, various pointy objects, etc. Vicky's eyes grow wide like a kid in a candy shop.

~          ~          ~

            Devi sits in her car, waiting for the Deranged Duo to get their asses in gear. She has no clue as to why she's agreeing to this. She also doesn't know how she's going to be able to stand being around Johnny but with Vicky there, hopefully he won't try anything. Though chances of that look grim as well, being his twin and all. It seems the more Devi's around Johnny, the more this feeling wells up inside her; she's positive it's the pure venom of hatred. She doesn't have time to ponder this further, however because just then, Johnny and Vicky strut out of the run down house, both of them dressed in black pants, a black shirt, black boots, a black trench coat and sunglasses, Johnny carrying a weapon laden duffle bag and Vicky with her hair pulled back in a ponytail. They start towards is Devi's car, who stares at them in disbelief.

            "YO! NEO! TRINITY! Lose the trench coats and sunglasses; this isn't 'The Matrix'!" Devi mocks them, starting up the car. Nny and Vicky exchange glances. Nny shrugs and complies, wanting to make this trip go as smooth as possible and being sane enough to understand it wouldn't work if he pissed Devi off, though his very presence seems to do that without much help. Vicky pouts however.

            "UH-UH! I like my sunglasses and if you don't, too damn bad!" She skips over to the car and sits shot gun. Nny hangs back for a moment; he doesn't really care about Devi, he attempts to tell himself. He tosses the duffle bag in before him, then climbs in the back seat.

            "Do you really need that much hardware?" Devi glares at Nny in the rearview mirror. Nny glances quickly back at the mirror but doesn't respond. Devi gives an irritated sigh and pulls away from the curb, starting Towards the NERVE office building. Nny keeps reminding himself about the useless excess of emotions as Vicky bobs up and down in her seat, humming "The Wheels on the Bus".

~          ~          ~

            Johnny and Vicky gaze up at the very tall NERVE building after Devi parks the car. Its glass sides very much resemble a giant mirror as the setting sun's rays gleam off it. Devi brushes past them both and heads inside.

            The three enter without much incident and flash their ID cards at the guard station. The guard had just gotten on the phone and didn't really pay them any mind. Nny gets the eerie feeling like he's being watched after he goes by but doesn't get a chance to turn around to investigate as he's almost run over by Vicky.

            "STARBUCKS! AND A BAKERY! YUMMY!" She shouts. Both Devi and Nny snatch her arms.

            "Oh no! You do NOT need any form of caffeine or sugar!" Devi informs her. Vicky sniffs and complies, trudging a few steps behind as they head to the elevators.

            "Do we know which floor we're going to?" Devi asks curtly.

            "The top floor," Nny pipes up.

            "Meat tell you that?" Vicky asks.

            "I refuse to acknowledge him by that name."

            "But didn't you…"

            "Do you two mind?" Devi scolds. They droop their heads like little kids being yelled at by their mother. "Now, we have a choice, stairs or elevator."

            "Why do we get a choice? What's wrong with the elevators?" Vicky asks.

            "There's only one working," Devi points her thumb over her shoulder, indicating the very large group of people trying to fit into the elevator all at once. Nny makes a face.

            "STAIRS!" He declares.

            "WHOA! Wait a minute, how many stories are there?" Vicky demands.

            "Two hundred," Devi replied matter of factly.

            "TWO HUNDRED?!" Vicky exclaims. "No, I am NOT climbing two hundred flights of stairs!"

            "I am NOT getting that close to the epitome of ignorance…" Nny starts.

            "You two have fun fighting, I'm taking the elevator," Devi turns and starts towards it. Vicky grins, sticks a tongue out at Nny, and rushes after her. Nny growls and follows.

            As Nny squeezes in just before the doors close, he accidentally whacks some little deep purple haired girl with a black dress, a skull necklace and squinty eyes in the head with his duffle bag, making her drop the hand held video game she was playing. As it hits the floor, the game starts to beep indignantly. The girl stoops down a picks it up, and starts growling.

            "You made me screw up my game!" She gives Nny the evil eye. He, however, completely ignores her and turns around to watch the progress of the elevator.

            Vicky stands in between Devi and Nny, looking back and forth between the two of them. Both of them watch to see what floor the elevator is not but make a point of not looking at each other.

            "You know," Vicky chirps as the elevator door opens for the next floor and the crowded elevator starts to thin out. "You two would make the cutest couple! I should hook you two up!"

            Nny and Devi snap their heads around to look at Vicky, shooting daggers out of their eyes at her.

            "Jeeze…I was just saying…"

            The doors to the elevator start to close, but just before they do, a small hand shoots in and stops them. The purple haired girl from before sticks her head in and grins evilly at Nny. Nny raises an eye brow at her as the doors start to close again. The girl slaps her hand on the elevator panel, making sure to hit every single button and waves as the doors shut.

            "NO!" All three yell and try to get out of the door but end up slamming into it cartoon style.

            "BITCH!" Nny whirls on Vicky, giving her the squinty eye. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

            "My fault?! You're the one that whacked the girl upside the head!"

            "Oh, but YOU'RE the one who just HAD to ride the elevator!" Nny snarls. "Prissy FOOK!"

            "SORRY! I'm not stupid enough to want to climb TWO HUNDRED flights of stairs! I mean, look at these boots! They are SO not stair material!" They glare at each other, angrily. Devi just stares at them, not wanting to get into the middle of it.

            "YOU KNOW WHAT! You just stay on THAT side of the elevator, and I'll stay on MINE!"

            "Fine!"

            "FINE!"

            The two go to the separate corners pouting.

            *Dear God, what have I gotten myself into?* Devi thinks.

~          ~          ~

            By the 50th floor, people have stopped getting on, mostly because Vicky and Nny's fighting has gotten so bad they've drawn their weapons and are threatening each other from opposite sides of the elevator. At the 75th floor, Devi takes their toys away.

"THAT'S IT! I'M SICK OF YOU TWO BABIES!" She snatches away both their knives. "I MAY BE STUCK IN THIS FUCKING ELEVATOR, BUT I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO YOU BRATS WHINE ABOUT WHOSE FAULT IT IS!"

"But she…"

"But he…"

"SHUSH!" She yells, pointing the knives at them. The two instantly clam up. "NOW BOTH OF YOU GO SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET BEFORE I RIP OFF YOUR ARM…" She points at Nny. "…AND BEAT YOU WITH IT!" She points at Vicky. "NOW PLAY NICE!" They instantly obey.

By the time they hit the 100th floor, Vicky has fallen asleep, curled up in a ball under the elevator panel which three had torn apart trying to get the door to stop opening. They succeeded, but also succeeded in making the elevator go twice as slow.

            Devi sits at Vicky's feet, watching the progress of the elevator. It seems like its mocking Devi as the numbers slowly change, pausing a good two or three minutes between floors. Devi shifts her gaze to Johnny, who sits on the other side of the elevator, staring at his ID card in his hand.

            Johnny slowly turns the card over and over, staring hard at it, almost through it, willing it to show some bit of information he had missed, some secret it knew that he did not. The card holds its tongue, however, and says nothing to Nny as he turns it. Nny pours over what Meat had said in his head. The whole 'memory restored' thing bugged him. Was Meat trying to trick him? He seemed awfully uncomfortable with the fact that Nny was coming here, which was quite uncharacteristic for him. But the question remains, would he get his memory back? Something more substantial than the vague flashes he had been getting? Nny isn't really sure if he wants to know his past, if it's any reflection of his present. Nny sighs, not paying attention to anything else, not even Devi, who is still staring at him.

            Devi still doesn't totally know what's going on. From what Johnny had inferred, all three of them had lost their memory and from Vicky's point of view, it was due to NERVE. But Devi isn't sure if she buys into that explanation. She still thinks it might be Johnny. He was already insane so he didn't remember his past. Vicky was related to him so it didn't really surprise Devi that she didn't remember hers either, having some severe mental issues of her own; insanity appears to be a family trait. And ever since Devi had met Nny, her life had most certainly taken a turn down a strange road. So it has to be Johnny sucking something from them and the whole NERVE things is just a coincidence.

            But then something that Vicky had said in Nny's drawing room comes to Devi's mind.

            "_Styrofoam figures that talked to him…"_

            Figures with voices, like Sickness? No, it can't be like Sickness, that's impossible. Sickness is Devi's own voice; she controlled it, much like an imaginary friend…right? Besides, Johnny is insane so there's no way Devi's voice could be like his.

            "What are you trying to prove, Johnny?" Devi asks, her cold voice slicing through the silence.

            "Huh?!" Nny looks up, startled by her voice.

            "Why are you doing this?"

            "Well, I'm not exactly sure…" Nny starts, looking down again. He's not quite sure how to speak to her anymore, as it's still quite obvious that she hates him. But he doesn't care, he reminds himself.

            "I DON'T forgive you," Devi reiterates, narrowing her eyes.

            "I don't expect you to," Nny says, not looking up at her.

            "What?"

            "I've told you before, I don't expect you to forgive me; all I want is silence. I do not seem to be permitted to feel happiness and without happiness what good is…"

            "SHUT UP!" Devi snaps, NOT wanting him to finish that sentence. Nny grimaces and continues staring at the card. "Ever since you walked into that bookstore, my life has been screwed to hell. I just recently got over my fear of leaving the house to try and pursue a normal fucking life and guess what happened, Johnny? YOU AGAIN!"

            "I'm…sorry Devi…"

            "SORRY?! Sorry isn't good enough!" Devi snaps, her pent up emotions giving her fuel. Johnny closes his eyes and sighs. He had hoped, if he had any trace of luck at all, that if they ever met again it wouldn't be like this. Unfortunately, Nny isn't very lucky. He thought his attempt to rid himself of these feelings had succeeded somewhat. But the longer the argument goes on, the more he realizes he hadn't. Nny stays silent.

            "What, Johnny-boy? No witty come backs? The great philoseph…"

            "YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T QUITE GRASP THE WHOLE SITUATION!" Nny says, saying it a little louder than he originally intended. He sighs. "I've tried moving past this stage of life to the next, greater motivation. It WAS working till SHE came along…" Nny shoots a contemptuous glance at the slumbering Vicky.

            "Try harder!" Devi growls. Nny closes his eyes, stung by the comment.

            "I'm glad it was so easy for you…"

            "EASY! Living in hear for a good half a year at least, YEAH! THAT'S EASY! Devi stands up.

            " 'Fear we do not know much about-terror of death, yes; but that is a different matter, that is physical…'" Nny quotes, not sure where it came from.

            "Excuse me?!"

            Nny doesn't answer.

            "Don't start your fucking head games, Johnny!"

            "Devi…"

            "NO! MY TURN TO TALK!" Devi pulls him up roughly, an animalistic anger starting to take hold of her. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT FEAR? YOU SEEM PRETTY KNOWLEDGABLE ABOUT DEATH!"

            Just then, Johnny gets another flash, but this one is only an intense, searing pain, pounding all over his body. He squeezes his eyes shut and holds his head to make it go away and sees a very dark, tall, menacing figure inside his eyelids. It all comes and goes in a matter of seconds.

            "YOU DON'T KNOW THE HALF OF IT!" Johnny yells at her, having no idea where the tears he's fighting back came from. He immediately regrets his outburst as Devi snarls dog-like, grabs Nny's collar, and rams him against the elevator wall.

            "I DON'T, DO I?! WELL LET ME TELL YOU…" Devi screams at him, but stops as she looks in his eyes. They say the eyes are a window into the soul. Devi sees something there that she never would have expected; a shadow of blind terror. Not from her, but from something else…

            Johnny grips the bar that runs around the metallic elevator to stop himself from doing something that he might regret; were Devi anyone else, she would have been dead by now. Johnny squeezes his eyes shut so he didn't have to look into her angry, analytic eyes.

            "Look at me when I'm talking to you, Nny…" Devi rumbles softly, not having the same power in her voice as before as the anger starts fizzling out, using his nickname for the first time since the last phone call. She pauses and then, on impulse, kisses him.

            Johnny's eyes pop open, in total shock. He stays completely still, not exactly sure as to how to respond to Devi's lips pressed against his. She lingers for a few moments, and then straightens up, staring at Nny with conflicting emotions in her dazzling jade eyes. A giggle sounds from the other side of the elevator. The two turn to see Vicky propped up by one arm with a sly grin.

            "I TOLD you that you two would make the cutest couple!" She chirps, satisfied. Devi lets go of Johnny's shirt, the two look evilly at Vicky, but still blush slightly. A loud bell ends the moment. All three look up to the meter above the elevator door.

            "We're there…"


	9. ISSUE NINE: Who Ya Gonna Call?

AN: Happy Halloween.

An Ode to the Ghostbusters.

**ISSUE NINE**

**Who Ya Gonna Call?**

            "We're there…"

            Devi quickly steps away from Johnny who is still clutching the elevator railing to keep himself upright, quite shocked from Devi's bold move. Not that he didn't like it, but he's certainly very confused. Devi doesn't look his way, pretending it didn't happen.

            Meanwhile, Vicky is beating on the door with her fists as hard as possible.

            "I CAN'T GET THE DAMN DOOR OPEN!!! OW!" She cradles her hurt hand. Devi raises an eyebrow and pulls a crow bar out of the duffle bag that she had also confiscated on floor 75. Vicky grabs it, considers the door for a moment as if trying to decide where to wedge it open, then starts bashing the crowbar against the door. "OPEN GODDAMMIT!"

            Johnny, having regained his composure, steps over and snatches the crowbar out of Vicky's hands with a scrutinizing look. Vicky grins sweetly and steps back as Nny jams the crowbar in between the doors and thrusts them open. The three peer out.

            They are quite surprised by what lies before them. Behind the doors is a short, normal looking hallway with grey walls and four doors, one labeled 'STAIRS: Do Not Use Elevator in Case of Emergency.' The others were unmarked. Vicky and Nny exchange glances but Devi waltzes right in to the hallway and throws open the first door.

            "A kitchen," Devi says with a cranky tone. "We went through ALL that for a fucking KITCHEN?!" Vicky and Nny follow Devi into the kitchen.

            "Ooo, shiny…" Vicky comments. The kitchen is fairly good size, completely metallic, with lots of large metal pots and pans, a few good size stew pots sitting on the stove range. Devi opens the huge refrigerator.

            "If you're thirsty, we're in luck! Lots of juice!" Devi growls sarcastically as she slams the door shut. Devi stops and stares at her reflection in the door.

            *What the fuck is wrong with me?* She asks herself, wrestling her emotions inside her head.

            Nny, deciding it best to leave Devi alone while she's on her warpath, crosses the hall to the second doorway. He peeks in the door but there's no light on and thus can't see a thing. His hand searches for a light switch however there is none to be found. He sighs, irritated, and flips open a lighter he gets from his back pocket. The little light that it sheds reveals a closet, covered in dust and cobwebs, obviously not used for a very long time. 

            "Hey want some Stay-Puft marshmallows?" Vicky asks, popping up behind Nny, clutching a bag she pilfered from the kitchen. He growls at her. "Jeeze, chill. Wait, Listen!" The two pause. "You smell something?" 

Nny wrinkles his nose at the smell of the closet and moves the lighter closer to the shelves to see their contents. The word 'GASOLINE' on an open container comes into view.

            "ACK!" Nny exclaims and quickly puts the light out. Vicky skips down the hall to the third doorway, leaving the other two behind. Nny steps out of the closet just as Devi returns from the kitchen. The two stop and stare at each other; Johnny opens his mouth to say something.

            "HEY! Come check this out!" Vicky calls from the third doorway. Devi brushes past Nny and catches up to Vicky. "It's a stairway… I think it leads to the roof…" Vicky states the obvious as Nny joins the group.

            The triage silently agrees and head up the short staircase, finding themselves on the roof of the office building. A balmy wind breezes through the dark night, as the sun has already set. Despite the modern looks of the building from the ground, the top is very old and gothic looking, all grey granite with strange looking statues guarding what looks to be a very large, stone doorway. As our three anti-heroes come closer, the stone creeks and moans under stress as the door swings inward. A bright light forces the three to shield their eyes momentarily till they adjust to the garish shine. Inside the doors and up a few decorative stairs is a huge, crystalline alter in front of a pyramid with a shadow sitting on a throne. A pair of red eyes glints from the pint sized shadow.

            "QUIVER IN FEAR OF MY ALMIGHTY SUPERIORITY! BWAHAHAHAHA!!!" The shadow squeaks.

            "You have got to be kidding me…" Devi says, looking in disbelief at the shadow.

            "You in charge?" Vicky shouts.

            "I SHALL ASK THE QUESTIONS HERE, MEATBAG!" The shadow commands. "ARE YOU A GOD?!"

            "I'll take care of this," Nny says calmly and takes a step forward.

            "We're screwed…" Vicky comments as Nny clears his throat.

            "DO I FUCKING LOOK LIKE A GOD YOU CREEPY RED EYED GNOME THING?!" Nny shouts.

            "JOHNNY!"

            "What?"

            "When some one asks if you're a god, YOU SAY YES!"

            "THEN BEHOLD THE AWESOME POWER…OF THE MOOSE!!!" The shadow exclaims with an evil laugh. A spotlight comes up next to the chair and there stands a large, brown moose, calmly chewing on walnuts. Nny and Vicky shriek in horror.

            "NOOOO!!! NOT THE MOOSE! ANYTHING BUT THE MOOSE!"

            Devi stands staring at the cringing Nny and Vicky.

            "Why me?" Devi asks herself.

            "ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! Jeeze, you're no fun," The voice says and the moose disappears. "Then…um…let's see…THE TRAVELER HAS COME! Choose and perish!"

            "What the hell do you mean by choose? What 'Traveler'?" Vicky asks, lost. "What happened to the moose?"

            "CHOOSE! Choose the form of the DESTRUCTOR!" The shadow declares. 

            "Oh, I get it, very cute!" Devi pipes up. "Whatever we think of. If we think of J. Edgar Hoover, J. Edgar Hoover will appear and destroy us. So clear your heads, we've only got one shot at this."

            "THE CHOICE IS MADE!"

            "WHOA WHOA! WAIT A MINUTE!" Devi shouts.

            "THE TRAVELLER HAS COME!"

            "NOBODY CHOSE ANYTHING! Did you choose anything?" Devi turns to Vicky.

            "My mind is totally blank," She replies.

            "Yeah, that's obvious," Devi mumbles under her breath. "Well I didn't choose anything…" Devi pauses and her and Vicky turn to look at Nny.

            "What?"

            "Nny, what did you do?" Vicky asks.

            "I didn't mean to, it just kind of popped in there!" He tries to defend himself.

            "JOHNNY! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Devi yells at him.

            "I just got this really funny idea and…"

            "Holy shit…" Vicky stares over Devi's shoulder. The other two turn to see what it is.

            "BEWARE THE INVASION OF THE DISEASED BROCCILI! THE COWS ARE OUR ONLY HOPE! OINK!" A giant Happy Noodle Boy makes his way down Main Street, stepping on cars and knocking over various buildings.

            "JOHNNY!" Devi screams.

~~~MEANWHILE…someplace else…~~~

(AN: The follow was borrowed from the 10 Funniest Things Heard in the Invader ZIM is Cancelled Meeting from www.revolutionsf.com.)

            "Yes Master Lucifer, we shall cancel the show of your rival, Vasquez," A CEO says, turning off the speaker phone and looking to the rest of the executives sitting around the conference table. "Folks, it's time for us to get back to basics, to the core values on which this company was founded. No more wacky-icky shows by former underground cartoonists about unappealing alien invaders. From now on, they want entertainment; they have to put in a nickel to hear 'Yes, We Have No Bananas.' Right! Volunteers to tell Jhonen?"

            "Cancel the show? I thought they were asking me 'Do you keep that crack pipe up your ass all day long!' " An executive interjects.

            "But we've already invested in Hot Topic Merchandise! We're losing a key opportunity to turn Korn fans onto our upcoming _The Rugrats Go to Hell feature!"_

            All of a sudden, the roof of the conference room comes crashing down, squashing all the executives into goo.

            "THE TELLITUBBIES ATE MY HORSE, THE BASTARDS!" Happy Noodle Boy exclaims as he hops up and down on the office building.

            "Ooooooookaaaaaay…" Vicky says, watching Happy Noodle Boy. Nny jumps up and down in pure joy.

            "I wish I had thought of that!" Nny says, ecstatic that his creation had been given 'life'. Devi and Vicky exchange glances.

            "JOHNNY! WE ARE GOING TO BE KILLED BY A FUCKING STICK FIGURE! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!" Devi demands.

            "Well, how are we supposed to kill a stick figure?" Vicky ponders. "I mean, all it is is paper and…" She's suddenly struck by a brilliant idea. Vicky exchanges a look with Nny and they grin identical evil grins.

            "Devi you stay here! We'll be back in a sec!" Nny yells over his shoulder as he and Vicky run down the stairs. A few moment later, the two return, Vicky lugging the huge stew pot behind her filled with cans, Nny carrying multiple cans of gasoline.

            "What the fuck are you people doing?" Devi asks as Nny starts pouring the gas into the pot and Vicky starts pouring the contents of the cans in with it.

            "Did you know, that if you mix equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate, you can make napalm?" Vicky asks matter of factly, holding up a can of frozen orange juice. 

"Works with Styrofoam too!" Nny adds.

            Devi sighs in defeat and stands by as Vicky and Johnny perfect their concoction. She looks over the side of the building.

            "Um, guys, it's climbing up…" Devi taps Nny on the shoulder.

            "THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE! GROOOOOAAAAR!!!" Happy Noodle Boy replies.

            "Ok, ready! Dump it over the side!" Nny directs and he and Vicky do so. Noodle Boy screams in protest, pauses, then continues climbing up.

            "That did a lot of good," Devi looks down in dismay.

            "Ok, Nny, light it on fire," Vicky commands, looking over at Nny who holds his lighter in his hand.

            "But, he's my baby…" Johnny looks down longingly at the giant stick figure. "All the mayhem he could reek, think of the advertis…"

            "GIVE ME THAT!" Devi snatches the lighter, lights it, and tosses it down at the napalm drenched opponent. It screams as it lights on fire and falls off the building.

~~~MEANWHILE…~~~

            "Hello and welcome today's edition of TRL with your host, Carson Daly!" The host exclaims and the pink clad crowd waves their homemade posters screaming their heads off as the god of teenyboppers makes his way on the stage.

            "Hey there! This is Carson Daly!" A fresh wave of screaming sounds. "Today we have guest…"

            CRASH!!! Happy Noodle Boy smashes into the building, squashing the entire crowd. After a few moments of smoldering, Happy Noodle Boy bursts into itty bitty pieces.

            "YOU WRETCHED HUMAN!" The shadow screams at the group, reminding them that he was still there. Nny snatches a knife from seemingly nowhere and leaps up the stairs to the throne in a single bound. He picks up the little shadow, which turns out to be some green being with red eyes and antenna.

            "What the hell are you?" Nny asks.

            "I shall ask the ques…eek!" The thing starts, but Nny presses his knife against his throat.

            "Now remember what 'Mom' said, Nny, PLAY NICE!" Vicky chirps from the bottom of the stairs. Devi taps her toe. Johnny, realizing that it probably wouldn't be the best idea to maim this creature in front of Devi, removes the knife but still holds on to it.

            "Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you," Nny says.

            "Uh…I'm not the one who screwed your head up!" The green thing says, eyes still on the knife.

            "What?"

            "Yeah, the Boss, he's downstairs in the basement! It was him!"

            "THAT DAMN BURGER BOY WAS RIGHT!" Nny screams, dropping the green thing and thundering down the stairs. "HE TRICKED ME!"

            "Uh…how did he…"

            "DON'T MESS WITH ME!" Nny exclaims, waving the knife and going down the second flight of stairs into the hallway. Devi rolls her eyes and follows.

            "PATHETIC HUUUUUMAN!" The green guy says, hitting a big, red button. "Now the Boss knows you're on your way! BWAHAHAHAHA-" He's cut off by a dagger going through his back.

            "Johnny won't kill you…" Vicky says, grasping the dagger she yanked out of her boot and grinning insanely. "But I will!"

            "I'm not taking that fucking elevator!" Devi demands, standing by the stairway door.

            "TWO HUNDRED FLIGHTS OF STAIRS!" Johnny yells back.

            "I'M NOT TAKING THE ELEVATOR!"

            "Chill children!" Vicky says, joining them, wiping some smudges off her face. "The elevator's broken, we trashed the wires, remember?"

            "I'm not walking down two hundred flights of stairs!" Nny growls, giving her the evil eye.

            "Then what are supposed to do, rappel down the side of the building?"

            "Actually…"

            "NO!" Devi screams and starts down the stairs. Vicky follows after and once again, Nny sighs and trudges along after them, carrying the duffle bag down with him.


	10. ISSUE TEN: The Ultimate Sacrifice

**ISSUE TEN**

**The Ultimate Sacrifice**

            "Apple pies are very nice, when you eat them with cold ice! You can have them everyday, 'cause they're made with MARMALAAAAAAAAAAAAAADE!" Vicky sings insanely. She hops down the stairs, having gone down multiple flights by now, she's lost track of where they are. Vicky leads the trio down, Johnny pressed next to the railing behind her and Devi pressed to the wall, the two trying to keep their distance from one another.

            Devi is in deep thought. She was positive that she despised Johnny with the deepest part of her soul before, however now she isn't so sure. Splinters of her old feelings were starting to rise to the surface. She is rather confused with her conflicted emotions, and this makes her even angrier at Johnny for making her feel that way. She catches Johnny looking at her, and he quickly shifts his gaze, a few of his bangs falling down in his face. She sighs and silently curses at her attraction.

            Vicky keeps up her insane façade. Vicky's not a moron; she is quite able to feel the increasing tensions between her two companions. She knows Johnny likes Devi; it's obvious from the way he goggles at her. Vicky is also able to tell there's something going on inside Devi's head, so Vicky tries to keep the situation light to make it easier for both of them. And she is hoping that if they think that she's not paying attention, they'll talk to one another. She really did think they made the cutest couple and figures Johnny wouldn't be as grumpy all the time if he finally got a girlfriend.

            Johnny takes a deep breath, trying to muster himself up to saying something to Devi. He looks at Vicky who, as if on cue, picks up the pace down the stairs out of earshot. Johnny clears his throat to say something but is cut off by the anticipating Devi.

            "Don't think anything is changed between us because it isn't!" She snaps, almost too quickly, trying to convince herself out loud that it's true. 

Johnny looks down and nods. 

"Because I still don't forgive you," She quickly adds. 

Johnny nods again. 

"I don't know what I was thinking, it was momentary insanity so don't think anything of it!" Devi continues babbling on. It's quite obvious she's lying to herself and doesn't even know it. "I mean, I hate you…" She pauses then mumbles under her breath. "At least I think I do…" 

Johnny looks up at Devi, not quite sure how to respond.

"Devi…" He starts but is cut off by Vicky, shouting a ways down the staircase.

            "Ooo! New friends!" She says. "Howdy! I don't suppose you have any coffee with you?" Johnny and Devi quickly race down to Vicky.

            "HALT! YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" The leader of a large group of security rent-a-cops commands the three. Vicky raises an eyebrow at the plethora of doughnut eating pigs in front of her.

            "Why? We have ID cards. There's nothing you can do…unless you're here about the elevator 'cause I can explain…" The guard simply snatches a radio from his waist and speaks into it.

            "Resisting arrest, shoot on sight," He says, and puts the radio back.

            "Whoa, whoa, whoa! No need to be hasty!" Vicky says, putting up her hands. With amazing quickness, the legion swipes their pistols from their holsters. Devi, Johnny, and Vicky quickly exchange glances, and duck inside the door opening to whatever floor they were on as the firing opens. The three spot a large vending machine and hurriedly push in front of the door.

            "BEAT THAT DOOR DOWN!" A voice commands from outside it, and loud thumps sound from the barricaded door. The trio rush down the hallway.

            "What the fuck is going on?!" Devi screams over the loud thumps. Just then, the guards knock the machine over and point down the hallway.

            "GET THEM!!!"

            Shots fire again and they duck around a corner, running for their lives. Johnny still clutches the weapon laden duffle bag, but there are simply too many guards so retaliation is out of the question.

            The three turn another corner, Vicky still in the lead. They reach a service elevator and Johnny slaps the 'down' button, hitting it repeatedly, waiting for the doors to open. A few bullets ricochet above their heads as the doors finally open and the three rush in. Some guards try to reach the elevator unsuccessfully as the doors close and the elevator jets downward.

            "What the hell was that all about?" Devi pants. Johnny and Vicky shake their heads.

            Surprisingly, the elevator ride down is very quick. Of course, the announcements of intruders in the building who should be executed on sight coming over loudspeakers are quite unsettling.

            "Whoever is in charge must have found out we're coming," Vicky comments.

            "It must have been that horrible green thing; I knew I should've killed him!" Nny says spitefully. Vicky whistles innocently.

            "Screw this. Let's get out of here while we have a chance," Devi says.

            "NO!" Vicky screams, her voice and eyes full of steely resolve. "I came for answers, I going to get them!" Devi opens her mouth to object but sees sane meaningfulness in Vicky's eyes, probably for the first time Devi's ever met Vicky. She looks at Johnny whose eyes also share that saneness. Devi nods, surprised at how soft she's getting.

            Just then, the elevator stops. The floor gauge informs the three that they have finally made it to the basement. Johnny and Vicky quickly arm themselves with some fearsome, glistening blades. Devi stares at the other weapons in the bag but doesn't arm herself. The door opens and Johnny motions for the two girls to stay behind him. He steps out into the hallway and looks around, leaving the bag behind.

            "Clear," He says and Vicky is instantly behind him, Devi a few feet away. 

            "So…where the hell do we go now?" Devi asks.

            "Uh…well…" Nny stumbles over his words.

            "We could start by walking," Vicky adds, sarcastically, taking up the lead once again. They walk a few feet before the hallway splits in three.

            "Great, which way now?"

            "LEFT!" Vicky trumpets and heads on without consulting anyone else. They other two shrug and follow. The hallway turns and Vicky comes to a stop.

            "What now?" Devi sighs, irritated.

            "LAWN GNOMES!" She cries.

            "What?!"

            "Lawn gnomes! Aren't they cute?" Low and behold, stretched out in front of Vicky, is a large group of motionless, knee-high, green and red bearded lawn gnomes.

            "What the fuck?" 

            Nny hisses at them. "Evil!"

            "Don't be stupid, they're so cute!" Vicky chirps and she kneels down the gnome. "Aren't y'all just the most adorable thing?!"

            The gnomes' eyes start to glow.

            "Um…" Devi pipes up. "Are they supposed to do that?"

            Then, little gun barrels pop out of the gnomes' eyes.

"Well that can't be good," Nny comments, exchanging a look with Devi.

The gnomes start shooting lasers at Johnny, Vicky, and Devi.

            "SHIT!" Vicky exclaims and falls back. "RUUUUUUUN!" And the three do just that.

            "THIS IS PATHETIC! WE'RE RUNNING FROM FUCKING LAWN GNOMES!" Devi screams as the gnomes start to give chase. Soon, the three are back to the fork in the hall.

            "Where now?"

            "RIGHT!" Vicky cries and the three run away from the closing in gnomes. A few moments later, the three start to slow down.

            "I think we lost them…" Nny pants. Vicky giggles.

            "That was fun!" Devi and Nny stare at her. "What?"

            "HALT!" A deep voice says. The three turn to see two very, VERY large guards dress all in black plastic armor suits, carrying rather impressive laser guns.

            "Aw, fuck," Devi swears. "THAT'S IT! YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE ANYMORE DECISIONS!" She scolds Vicky.

            "FIRE AT WILL!" The guard says and the two guards open fire. Vicky leaps out of the way.

            "DEVI!" Nny exclaims and he pushes Devi out of the way of the shot. The two trip and Johnny falls on top of Devi. The two lie there for a moment, staring at each other. It's at that moment that all detest in Devi for Johnny melts away. Johnny gets uncomfortable and gets up, helping Devi up after him.

            Vicky, meanwhile, is making short work of the two guards with her knives, apparently enjoying herself.

            "Um, Vicky?" Devi says; Vicky ignores her. "Vicky?! VICKY!"

            "WHAT!" Vicky jumps, startled.

            "I think they're dead." 

Vicky looks down.

"Oh," She grins, sweetly. She just about to start walking when she stops, a horrified look on her face. "JOHNNY! LOOK OUT!"

"Wha?" Nny starts to turn around but is too late. One of the gnomes had caught up with them and was shooting non-stop. One of the shots grazes Nny's arm. "FUCK!"

Without thinking, Devi grabs the one of guns of the fallen guards and shoots at the gnome. It promptly blows up. Devi rushes over to Nny.

"You ok?" She asks and tears a piece of fabric from her shirt sleeve and start to wrap Johnny's wound. He's shocked at the tenderness in her touch and can't say a word. 

"I don't think this is the right hallway," Vicky says.

"Why?"

"It's a dead end!" She chirps, pointing behind her. Devi sighs and Johnny takes point.

"We better get to the other hallway before more of those EVIL gnomes come," he says and start running down the hallway, Devi at heels and Vicky close behind.

They get back to the fork without incident, the gnomes appear to have dispersed, but the trio stays on their toes, just in case. Soon they come to a doorway with a button by the door instead of a door handle.

"Hm, I wonder what's in here?" Devi asks.

            " 'The Boss's Lair'." Vicky says.

            "How the hell do you know?" Nny asks.

            "The big sign over the door," Vicky says matter of factly. Johnny and Devi look at the big fancy sign over the door.

            "Oooookay…"

            "Let's go kick some HONEY BUNS!!" Vicky says, enthusiastically. "Go get 'em Nny!"

            "What? Why me?"

            "Because you're the guy."

            "So?"

            "JUST GET YOUR ASS IN THERE!!!" Nny sighs and hits the button on the door. It slides open.

            "What the…IT'S THE INTRUDERS!! GET 'EM!" A massive army of huge, black clad guards starts to move and chaos ensues.

            "Whoops!" Vicky says. The three scream and they dive for cover as the guards rush to get their guns and attack. Johnny, Vicky, and Devi hide behind a large pile of black barrels. Devi skillfully shoots a mirror on the other side of the room which ricochets giving the illusion that they were actually elsewhere. This buys them a few minutes.

            "WHOOPS?!" Nny exclaims once their under cover. "Is THAT all you have to say?!"

            "Quite fighting you two!" Devi scolds.

"Well, I sure as hell don't see any boss!" Vicky says, angrily.

            "He must be behind that door," Devi points to another door in the room where two guards stand unmoving.

            "How do we get past them?" 

            "We need a plan," Johnny pipes up and grabs two cans, spacing them apart on the floor. "Ok, ok…." He says thinking. "Here's the guards and here's the door," He points to the respective cans. Devi looks over his shoulder.

            "Ok…"

            "Here's the guards and here's the door," Nny repeats.

            "Yeah, I got that. And?"

            "Well, here's the daurds and here's the goor…wait a minute…"

            "We need something a bit more substantial Nny!" Devi exclaims. Vicky peers out over the barrels to make sure they hadn't been found.

            "We need a distraction," She says.

            "How?" Devi asks.

            "I'll do it,"

            "Don't be stupid, Vicky, that's suicide," Nny says absentmindedly, staring at the cans. "Ok, if we…no…"

            Vicky stares at Devi and Nny crouched over the two cans like generals over their toy soldiers, fruitlessly trying to pull together a plan. She knew it was pointless.

            "Nny, the only way…"

            "No, forget it."

            "Johnny…"

            "Vicky! We're in this together!" He says, shooting Vicky a stern look before returning to his cans. Devi tries moving one of the cans but it doesn't help. Vicky sighs, seeing how something had happened between the two of them; they were starting to understand each other. Vicky sees a connection that she knows she will never be able to have with anyone. If they all try to get out together, they'll all die. Vicky knows what she has to do.

            *_I'll miss you Johnny.*_

            "Johnny?" She asks.

            "Hm?"

            "I'm sorry for everything," Vicky quickly grabs Devi's gun and before he realizes what's happening, Vicky cuffs him in the back of the head with the butt of the gun, just hard enough to stun him, drops the gun, and leaps over the wall of cans. 

~          ~          ~

_            "Hey Johnny?" Vicky asked her brother thoughtfully, sitting on the roof of their large home on a big, fluffy green blanket. She leaned back from staring in the large telescope that was set up in front of her._

_            "Hm?" He sounded, continuing on his charcoal drawing of the dark, starry night. He itched his nose, smudging black all over it._

_            "Have you ever wondered what it was like to die?" She asked, gazing at the stars._

_            "What?" He looked up for a moment. "You're only eleven and wondering about dying?"_

_            "Well, I mean, I was just thinking…"_

_            "Don't hurt yourself."_

_            Vicky shot a look at Johnny as he went back to his drawing._

_            "What is it like to know that you're going to die? Like those people who commit suicide. What goes through a person's head when they decide to sacrifice themselves? Do they get some eerie sense of clarity? Do they really see their life pass before their eyes?"_

_            "I don't know."_

_            "What if you've never really lived? You know, what if you know absolutely nothing about life? I mean, it has to be like standing over an abyss, not sure what's coming, and missing what you're leaving…" Vicky trailed off. "It must be very lonely…" _

_            "I think you think too much."_

_            Vicky shrugged and continued looking at the stars._

~          ~          ~

It only takes Johnny a few seconds to regain his bearings but an explosion from nowhere occurs and Johnny instinctively protects Devi from the shrapnel. Devi, realizing it was their only chance, grabs Johnny by the wrist, still in quasi-shock from what was happening, and drags him to the door. Devi shoots the guards and then leaps inside the door as it hisses closed. Johnny drops to the floor and sits for a moment, staring disbelieving into space with wide, vacant eyes.

"Vicky…" He whispers.

"Johnny?" Devi steps up behind him. The realization of what just occurred starts to dawn on him. He leaps up and starts beating on the door.

            "YOU SONS OF BITCHES! I'LL HAVE ALL YOUR FUCKING HEADS!" He rants, beating the door so hard his fists start to bleed. Devi touches his shoulder, seeing tears stinging his eyes. Johnny hits the door one last time and heaves silently, feeling all strength slowly drain out of him.

            "Well, well, well, if it isn't our favorite waste lock. How are we today, Johnny C?" A mocking voice sounds from behind them.


	11. ISSUE ELEVEN: In the Face of Evil

**ISSUE ELEVEN**

**In the Face of Evil**

            The masculine voice laughs maliciously. Johnny whips around, suddenly seized by animalistic rage, snarling. He snatches a blade from seemingly no where and races towards the direction of the voice, screaming a blood curdling cry. He smashes into an invisible wall and falls backwards but is up in an instant, racing towards the wall again and smashing into it.

            "Try all you want, you won't get past the force field!" The voice says. Johnny crouches like a panther ready to pounce on its prey, teeth bared, blade at the ready. Devi stands a few feet behind him, for the first time taking in the surroundings.

            It was a dark room, the floors and walls were slick black. In the walls are several television screens with what appeared to be security camera images. Not all of these appear to be from the office building. Several images are of home settings, ranging from family living rooms, to children's rooms, to adults rooms. At the far end of the room, where the voice comes from, some soft lights turn on showing a small flight of stairs (mostly for decoration purposes). At the plateau is a large chair; it strongly reminds Devi on the Emperor's throne in _Star Wars_.

            The lights are angled so Devi can not make out the face of the person sitting in the chair, just an outline. The frame is tall and thin; though not as ghastly thin as Johnny. The person has short, spiked hair and the light glints off a pair of oval glasses. He leans to his right, holding his chin in one hand. Huddled around the throne is a collection of things; the dim light prevents Devi from seeing them as well.

            "Devi, my dear!" The voice says. "You were always one of my favorites. Though _he was my pet project."_

            "Who the hell are you?!" Devi demands.

            "Well, I prefer to be called 'Heir to the Flaming Global Throne of Evil.' Everyone around here calls me 'The Boss' though. It's cheesy, but whatever," The Boss shrugs.

            "How the fuck do you know who we are?"

            "I know everything about you," The Boss informs her. "I own you."

            "Huh?"

            "I have a most interesting job. I collect souls you see. Originally I kept them in a large cardboard box, but my collection got too big…"

            Johnny growls something that Devi can't make out. The Boss chuckles.

            "No, I'm not Señor Diablo, Johnny, though he's a very interesting person. Remember from your little 'vacation' of sorts that you don't belong in either heaven or hell? Well, that's because you belong to me. I have a nice set-up down here. God gets the souls of the righteous and holy; Señor Diablo gets the souls of the stupid and mundane. I get to fuck up everyone else. It's a lot of fun."

            "What's a waste lock?" Devi demands.

            "Why I'm surprised Johnny didn't bequeath this information to you. Johnny is a point in space where the anger excreted by humans collects. It has an interesting effect on one's sanity, doesn't it?" The Boss snickers a little. "I also get the pleasure appointing this wonderful job to people."

            "The demons?" Johnny hisses, snake-like.

            "Oh yes, those are mine too. A way of keeping track of 'subjects'. I must say, though, you're the first I had to use _three_ voices on. Well, four if you count the failure. Traitor…" The Boss spits out the last word as one would a nasty taste in one's mouth.

            _*Again with these voices…* Devi thinks. It apparently shows on her face._

            "Don't look so perplexed, Devi," The Boss addresses her. "You have one too. Sickness, I believe her name is?"

            Johnny looks back in surprise at Devi, shocked that someone like her could have a demon. 

            Devi stands in shock.

            "How did you…"

            "Come on, you _do_ remember who gave you your lovely new art supplies, don't you?"

            "Nerve…" Devi grumbles, angrily.

            "Very good!" A light comes up around the chair suddenly, highlighting the group of creatures. 'Creatures' is certainly a correct word for they are the strangest collection Devi's ever seen. All of them look like toys, statues, pictures, drawings, anything of the like, brought to life. Only three of them are prominent however and quickly grab Devi's vision. The first looks like a Gremlin that had too much water dumped on it, a very dangerous looking animal with a wide, stretching smile. Unlike the movies, however, this Gremlin was a shocking bright purple and pink with a yellowish beak. Next the pink and purple monster sits two, almost identical, squat, pudgy little boys, with evil, black, swirling eyes. The round puff balls each wear an interestingly decorated tie and chef's hat. One has the word 'FUCK' printed across it's shirt. "My most successful demons get the honor of staying here with me. And of course, real bodies."

            Johnny hisses at the sight of the Doughboys and tightens his grip on the blade.

            "My little minions are like video cameras. Except they can actually get _inside their host's head, become a part of their thoughts. I can watch from right here," The Boss points to the video screens. "I must say, Johnny, you had a most interesting past of any I've seen. I had a most difficult time breaking you," The Boss grins a gleaming smile. "For some reason, you were very attached to your memories. I can't imagine why…"_

            "What do you need our memories for?" Johnny growls.

            "Well, it's quite difficult controlling those with a sense of identity. They must be stripped of that first," The Boss informs him matter of factly. "Surprising things happen to those without identity. Though your darling sister didn't have one to begin with. She was amazingly easy compared to you…"

            Johnny hollers a war cry and leaps at The Boss again, forgetting the barrier is there and so is flung back once more. Johnny leaps to his feet.

            "Ooo, I think I hit a nerve…"

            "BASTARD! I'LL…"

            "What? Kill me? Do you really want to Nny?" The Boss taunts.

            "You violate my head, kill the only family I've ever known, and generally fuck up my life! I believe I gain the privilege!"

            "My dear boy, your life was already fucked up before you came to me," The Boss explains calmly. "I just helped it along."

            "What the hell do you mean by that?"

            "That's right, you forgot! Sorry. Would you like to see what I'm talking about?" Without waiting for an answer, The Boss snaps his fingers. Johnny's eyes flash and his body goes slack. The blade slips from his fingers and clatters on the floor as Johnny plops into a sitting position. His eyes are completely empty and devoid of life; it's as if looking into the face of death.

            "Nny?" Devi asks. "You OK?"

            Johnny doesn't respond, only stares straightforward.

            "Joh…?"

            Johnny takes a sharp breath like he's just been slapped by something, his eyes still blank. Devi, startled, starts toward him. He shudders violently and squeezes his eyes shut.

            "Johnny, are you alright?" Devi goes to touch his shoulder, but he cries out in pain and quickly curls up in a fetal position on the floor, hands clasped over head.

            "No, I didn't…stop…I'm sorry…" Johnny whimpers.

            "What are you doing to him?!" Devi yells at the Boss.

            "I'm not doing anything."

            "Make it stop!"

            "You seem awfully quick to help someone you used to claim to hate."

            "STOP IT!"

            "I have an idea! Why don't you watch with him too?!" The Boss suggests maliciously, snapping his fingers again before Devi can protest.

            Devi feels her body fall away from her as the world around her dissolves and disappears. She feels as if she's being pulled toward something, and then blacks out.

~          ~          ~

_            As Devi walked down the strange corridor, she realized she had a sudden new awareness. She felt feelings and heard thoughts inside her head from voices unknown to her; it was much as if she had become a sponge of sorts. Somehow, this didn't disturb her that much. She continued walking down the dark, richly decorated corridor. Devi figured it must be night where ever she was as it was quite dark. She heard voices down the hall and started toward them._

_            On her way to the voices, Devi stopped between two doors opposite each other in the hall, both of them cracked open a bit. Devi's curiosity got the best of her and she poked her head inside the door on the left._

_            Devi's eyes were barraged with a large bedroom decorated in pink and purple with ponies, teddy bears, ballerinas; the perfect little girl's paradise. It was very clean, complete with the next day's outfit (a long sleeved navy blue sweater and a plaid skirt) laid out on the trunk at the end of the big, pink canopy bed. Seeing someone asleep in the bed, Devi took a step further in to see who it was, and noticed a little plaque on the back of the door._

_"Vicky's Room"_

_            Devi took another step and low and behold, there laid Vicky, about five or so years old, curled up with a very serene smile, sleeping in the bed which was much too big for the little girl, hugging a purple teddy bear. Devi smiled in spite of herself, soaking in the peaceful feelings and backed out of the room._

_            Devi now stood in front of the second door, which she suspected must be Johnny's room. She gripped the handle, not knowing what to expect inside._

_            She was actually quite surprised. This room was fairly large as well and painted baby blue. It, however, was not decorated like every little boy's dream room; no sport memorabilia, no action figures, no comic books. Instead, it had lots of novels, not all children's books either. Many were rather large. A few of the titles didn't surprise Devi, but several books were about law and the best colleges for lawyers. These looked as if they had barley been touched. A few had even been thrown in the waste basket. A poster depicting Harvard was posted on the wall; it looked like darts had been thrown into it. Devi scanned the rest of the room and saw a desk covered with crayons and drawings. An art book or two was partially hidden under some college books. Devi was suddenly startled by a muffled noise._

            _The room also contained a large mahogany bed and in it was little Johnny. His sleep was not as peaceful as his sister's, however. The little boy groaned again and rolled over, a very troubled expression on his face. Devi, afraid she might wake him, slipped out of his room, disturbed by the uneasy vibes._

_            The voices Devi had heard earlier were getting louder down the hall. Devi hurried towards them._

_            "You're too hard on that boy!" A woman cried as Devi stuck her head in. She quickly ducked, afraid she might be seen._

_            "Nonsense!" A man replied. "All I'm doing is preparing him for the real world!"_

_            Devi, peaking in the cracked door, wasn't able to see the voices' owners. She, with her new sponge ability, was able to pick up the flying emotions; certainty and uncertainty, love and sternness, positivism, dread, fear, anger._

_            "By not letting him have a childhood?!" The woman countered. "He needs to be able to have fun, play…"_

            _"I'm treating him no different than my father treated me!"_

_            Devi opened the door a little more. This room was also decorated very richly with a pure white carpet and wood paneled walls. Every piece of furniture that Devi could see was a beautifully crafted chestnut piece. Devi could see shadows on the wall._

_            "I'm afraid you're going to hurt him."_

_            "Honey, I turned out as a perfectly mentally healthy child…"_

_            "I don't mean like that."_

_            Devi inched her head in a bit more and a surprising thing came into view. The two fighting were still hidden by the door, but Devi could see, leaning against the chest of drawers, the fully grown Johnny as Devi knew him. He was almost transparent, like a ghost with an extremely sad expression on his face. Devi was shocked that no one saw him. Just then, a tall, thin man rushed over to the drawers, reached through Johnny and pulled one open. Devi was amazed by this until she looked down at her hands to see that she was transparent as well. Then she realized what was going on. This was Johnny's past and they were no more than mere shadows; the people who lived in this time couldn't see them. Devi stepped further in the door._

_            Meanwhile, the argument continued._

_            "You're making up things, dear," The tall man said. He was putting on a tie. A young woman stood nearby. She had long, bluish-black hair and an extremely kind face. Johnny looked remarkably like her. Devi figured she must be his mother and the man his father._

_            "But poor Johnny…"_

_            "Quit calling him that ridiculous name! It's Jonathon! 'Johnny' is not a name of any self-respecting lawyer…" The father snapped, whirling around._

_            "I think you're taking this lawyer thing too far."_

_            "I think you're coddling him too much!"_

_            "But Johnny doesn't want to be a…"_

_            "STOP CALLING HIM JOHNNY!"_

_            "Honey…" The mother stepped back, frightened. The father exhaled and wrapped his arms around his wife in a very loving hug._

_            "I'm sorry dear. I didn't mean to explode like that. I promise I'll never lay a finger on him."_

_            "I know you won't," She hugged him back. "I know how your family is all lawyers. But…"_

_            "I have to go. Can we continue this when I get home?"_

_            "Of course. Good luck at court tonight." The two kissed deeply and then the father left the room, not seeing Devi standing by the door._

_            Devi moved her eyes from the worried mother to the shadow of Johnny. A tear rolled down his cheek as he watched his father go. Then the world dissolved and it all went back again._


	12. ISSUE TWELVE: The Wonder Years

AN: Spiderman was created by Stan Lee and is owned by Marvel Comics.

**ISSUE TWELVE**

**The Wonder Years**

            It took Devi awhile to get used to the time jumps. After the world dissolved, she got the feeling of being suspended in nothing, between time and space. Sometimes she would get a quick flash of something before feeling the ground reforming under her feet. Her head was suddenly filled with new memories; it was kind of like having someone fill her in on what she missed during a movie. The difficult part was having to deal with the new feelings that went along with the memories.

            As the world reformed around her, Devi was almost knocked over by the overwhelming wave of melancholy and despair that came at her. Devi saw that she was in a hospital room, the constant, steady beeping of the heart monitor the only sound. The room was completely white with only one bed surrounded by many machines. In the bed laid Johnny's mother, deathly pale and sickly looking; she appeared to be asleep. Devi 'remembered' that she had been sick for a long time.

            Just then, the door to the room opened and in stepped a tentative Johnny and Vicky, about 12 years old, followed by their nervous, drained father. As soon as the two children saw their mother, they bounded over to her bed side. A doctor came in as well and checked the IV drip and machines before pulling the father over to the side and speaking in a hushed voice.

            "How's she doing?" Their father asked, worried. The doctor sighed.

            "I'm sorry, it's not looking well…"

            "No, no. There has to be something…something you missed…"

            "She's not responding to any of the treatments…"

            "Then try something else, anything else! Money's not a problem…" Their father reached for his wallet. "Please!"

            "I'm sorry, sir," The doctor said, compassionately. "I don't think she's going to last through the night." The doctor patted Father's shoulder sadly, and then walked out of the room. Father stood in shock.

            "Mommy?" Vicky chirped as she saw her mother's eyes slowly open, pushing against invisible weights. Their mother smiled weakly.

            "Hey, you two silly gooses," She said hoarsely. Their father walked over to the bedside.

            "We brought you flowers!" Johnny said, trying to cheer her up, as if they would make everything all better.

            "Why thank you! Could you two put them on the table over there?" Their mother nodded her head in the direction of the table across the room. The two kids gladly replied.

            "Hey hun, how's it going?" Their father asked quietly once they were gone.

            "Well, the food could be better. I'm tired of this puréed stuff," She smiled weakly again.

            "When you get better we'll go out to dinner," Her husband smiled back. "I heard Emeril's in town."

            "What's my prognosis?" Their mother asked. The father paused a moment.

            "Doctor said you'll out of here in no time," He replied. The mother smiled sadly.

            "Liar."

            Johnny and Vicky hurried back to their mother's side. Father sighed and stepped back.

            "I can't take care of two kids by myself," he mumbled.

            "When are you coming home, Mommy?" Vicky asked. Mother smiled at her, but said nothing.

            "We miss you," Johnny said.

            "Johnny, I need you to promise me something," Mother looked at him thoughtfully. 

            "Of course, anything!"

            "I need you to be strong for me, and to promise to take care of your sister, no matter what happens."

            Johnny pauses and realizes exactly what's going on.

            "I promise, Mom," he sniffed.

            "Come on kids, your mom needs her rest," A nurse said at the door. The two said good-bye, gave their mother a hug and reluctantly went out the door. The father stepped up to the bed once more.

            "I can't do this without you," he said.

            "I have complete faith in you," she said, and closed her eyes. The father kissed her forehead and headed out of the room.

            Outside, Johnny and Vicky had their arms wrapped around each other and were sobbing. Their father sighed.

            "Come on, let's go home," He said. Vicky rushed over her him and cried into his suit as he started down the hall. Johnny hung back and watched as his father reached in his coat pocket for a half filled pack of cigarettes. Johnny crinkled his nose at the cancer sticks.

            "Jonathon! Let's go!" Father yelled back at him, a tad too sharply. Johnny gritted his teeth and vowed never to start smoking. He caught up with his father and sister.

~          ~          ~

            Being a lawyer, Johnny's father by nature was very strict and always had been. Johnny had never really _hated_ him until he started to get older and with good reason. Especially once his mother got sick. His father had never been outright nasty to Johnny until then, just rigid. It was stress. That was also when he started smoking. Like a chimney. Johnny had been so used to his mother always supporting him no matter what and telling he could be whatever he wanted to. Not so with his father.

            It had been quite a few months since the funeral. Their father had been high strung ever since.

            It was a Saturday afternoon and Johnny and Vicky had been outside earlier but came in once the sun got too hot. Vicky had gone straight to her room; she had to practice before her violin lesson that afternoon. Johnny had stayed in the living room to watch a movie on TV. He kicked off his shoes and left them on floor, then rushed into the kitchen to get something to drink. As he had his head in the refrigerator, he heard an 'OOF' and then his father calling his name.

            "JONATHON! GET IN HERE!"

            "Yeah Dad?" Johnny strode into the living room, resenting his full name.

            "What the hell are those on the floor?!"

            "Oh, sorry. I forgot to put them away," Johnny said nonchalantly and went to retrieve them. His father stepped in his way.

            "You forgot?! How am I supposed to walk around my own house if there is junk lying all over it?! I have a huge case to work on!" His father bellowed, holding up a large folder.

            "It's just a pair of shoes," Johnny said. "If you let me through, I'll put them away."

            "Are you talking back to me?!" Without warning, his father backhanded him hard across his face. Johnny, not expecting this, tripped backward and fell, staring up in shock at his father. Johnny had _never_ been struck before. He didn't know what to think.

            "Take care of your stuff, brat!" His father yelled and stalked off, lighting up a cigarette. Johnny sat there for a little while, having no idea as to what had just happened. He quickly got up and put his shoes away; though his father was a thin man, he was surprisingly strong. Then Johnny rushed up to his room to stay out of his father's way.

            About an hour later or so, his father came up to Vicky's room and knocked on the door; Johnny's door was open ajar and so he could see them.

            "Victoria! Time for your lessons!" He called. The cascade of notes coming from her room stopped and Vicky opened her door.

            "Ok, Daddy! Let me put my violin in its case first."

            "Have you cleaned your room yet?"

            "Uh…not exactly," Vicky said sheepishly. Johnny watched through the crack to see if his father went ballistic on her too. But his father simply sighed and patted her head.

            "You look so much like your mother…" He said nostalgically. 

Johnny sat, dumbfounded.

~          ~          ~

Johnny sat on his bed in his room, reading a Spiderman comic he had borrowed from someone in school as his father wouldn't let him have his own. He said they rotted the mind. Of course his real reason was to try to stop Johnny from his artistic habits.

That's when he heard the door slam.

And much like Peter Parker's spider sense, Johnny could instantly tell his father was on the war path.

Johnny quickly stashed the book in a pillow case and snuck out his door to try to get of the house.

"JOHNNY!"

Too late.

"GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT, YOU LITTLE DELINQUENT!!"

Johnny rushed downstairs and right outside the doorway to the mahogany and maroon decorated dining room where his father was waiting. He paused before walking so he didn't look as scared as he actually was. He caught his breath and walked in.

His father radiated anger in waves. Johnny shrunk back.

"What the hell is this?!" His father waved a paper. Johnny gulped. It was a test he hadn't studied for from school and a big 'D' stained the top of it in read ink. Johnny was lucky it wasn't an 'F'.

"I…I…it was" Johnny stuttered.

"Maybe if you paid more attention to your studies rather than this goddamn mess, you'd do better, huh?!" His father tossed one of Johnny's notebook's open on the table. His notes were covered in doodles and several other drawings feel out of it.

"You went through my backpack?!" Johnny exclaimed. "That's not fair! That's…" His father slapped him.

"Life isn't fair! You're lucky you have someone to keep you on track!" His father backhanded Johnny sending him reeling into the table. The wind was knockout of him. He stayed still, gasped for air.

"Look at me when I speak to you!" His father cuffed him and sent him crashing to the ground. Johnny felt blood trickle from his nose and the corners of his mouth.

Johnny curled up in a fetal position and tried to numb out the down pouring, unending blows and venom-dripping screams.

"YOU HAVE TO LEARN TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!"

Johnny just whimpered.

~          ~          ~

Vicky waved good-bye to her friends and walks in the door to her mansion. She put her name brand shopping bags down on the island in the kitchen. There was a dance coming up and she couldn't be seen wearing something she wore at the last dance. What would people think?

She went to go find her father to show him her latest acquisitions when she heard yelling coming from the dining. She sighed and figured he had a bad day at work. She went to see if she could help and heard her brother say something.

"Great, male testosterone," she murmured as she stepped into the dining room.

Just in time to see her father back hand Johnny and send him sprawling on the floor. Vicky gasped and ducked out of the dining room, hiding just outside the doorway. Luckily, no one noticed her. She clasped her hands over her mouth to keep her from saying anything as she listened to the horrible sounds of flesh beating flesh, fear and confusion keeping her in her place as she heard her brother's whimpers and her father yelling.

It only lasted a few moments and then her father stormed from the room out a different doorway. Vicky peeked in to make sure he was gone and then rushed to kneel by Johnny. His eyes were squeezed closed and he was breathing raggedly. He looked horrible, cuts and blood all over his face. She touched his shoulder and he flinched.

"Johnny, it's me," She said, softly. Johnny opened his eyes a bit and then started sobbing.

~          ~          ~

In his study, their father sat at his desk, his latest case file, 'Pop Star Gets Evicted for Ecstasy' spread all over her desk. He wasn't looking at that however. On the edge of the desk sat a picture of his wife; his angel that went back to heaven. He felt miserable. He looked down at his hands, which had some smudges of blood on them. He let out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm so sorry, honey," He whispered, and placed the frame face down so his wife couldn't look at what he had become.

~          ~          ~

"How long has this been going on?" Vicky asked and she closed the first aid kit.

"About a year or so. He started a little bit after Mom died," Johnny replied, looking down, unable to look at her. Vicky could already see bruises starting to form around his eye.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Vicky said. "There's, like, laws against this! He could seriously injure you!"

"He said he'd have me sent to Juvie if I did…" Johnny mumbled. "And I don't want to leave you here alone with him…"

"Johnny, we should report this to the cops…"

"Ha," Johnny snorted. "Come on Vicky, Dad has the police in his pocket, you know that. He's the best lawyer in the tri-state area; I doubt two thirteen year olds could pin anything on him."

"Well, we have physical proof…"

"That can easily be brushed off as the bully at school! Vicky, I've already thought of all this," Johnny said. 

"But we have to tell someone…"

"No…"

"If you won't, I will!"

"No!"

"But Johnny…"

"NO!! Listen, I know he doesn't touch you and I don't know why. But I'm afraid if you find out he'll hurt you too, I promised Mom I'd look out for you!"

"You can't look out for me if you're dead."

"He won't kill me, he still needs me to 'carry on the family tradition' and all that. Continue on the age old law firm. Promise me you won't say a word."

            Johnny looked up at Vicky for the first time. She sighed, defeated.

            "I promise."

~          ~          ~

            Vicky slipped out of Johnny's room. They had talked for a little longer but then Johnny decided to go to bed early. Vicky put the first aid kit away, all the while juggling an overwhelming feeling of guilt. Johnny kept looking out her and there was nothing she could do for him.

            It also bothered her that Johnny was the only one who got beaten. He didn't deserve it and never did anything terribly wrong…

            That was when the idea hit her. It was so obvious, she should have thought of it before. Sure, it might hurt at first, she could be such a baby sometimes, but she'd work up a tolerance. It was pure genius. She could _stop her father but maybe…_

            Vicky rushed to her room and put on her roller blades and helmet (it's the law!) and then peeked outside her room. The coast was clear. She carefully trudged down the hallway and down the stairs. At the foot of the stairs, the floor became wood and so she started skating around the house. She had to admit, it was a lot of fun but she had a mission. She skated to right outside her father's study and peeked in. Sure enough, there he was sitting. Vicky backed up some, then sped by the door and crashed into a rather expensive looking, tan vase with oriental flowers detailed on it.

            Her father was instantly out the door of his office and looking down the hallway with a rather irritated scowl on his face. Vicky stayed where she sat, amongst the wreckage. Her father stormed down the hall to where Vicky was and she started to rethink her genius plan.

            "I…I…I'm sorry Daddy! I forgot to take off my roller blades and…and…" Her father reached down a hand to pick up of a piece of the vase. Vicky squeezed her eyes shut and cringed, waiting for it to come…

            …But her father simply patted her on her head and sighed.

            "It's ok honey. I didn't really like it anyway. I'll have Lola clean it when she comes in tomorrow," He smiled at her. "Please remember to take off the blades next time, OK?"

            Vicky nodded and stared as her father went back to his study, thoroughly confused.


	13. ISSUE THIRTEEN: 'NNY'

AN: I want to dedicate this chapter, not only to all my friends who have helped me with the story, but to my band director whom the art teacher in this chapter is based on. He recently retired and was a great mentor for me. Not that he will ever read this, but myself along with the entire band will miss him greatly.

Thanks for all the great times, Mr. Izzo.

~The Archer

**ISSUE THIRTEEN**

**'NNY'**

            Johnny walked through the overly crowded halls of the high school, all decorated in school colors of blue and white for the first day of school, the same irritating colors of the pathetic school uniform Johnny was forced to wear. But being in a private school, it kind of came with the territory. He clutched his schedule in one hand, searching for the door to his next classroom, a mountain of textbooks and notebooks on his back which clearly labeled him as a 'freshman'; one who didn't know how to get to his locker between classes.

            Johnny squeezed through the gaggles of friends congregated around their lockers and Johnny felt a pang of loneliness as one of them snickered spitefully as he went by. He sighed, but was somewhat used to it, having become the designated outcast. It wasn't his fault, he just never spoke unless spoken too and had a deathly fear of teachers and other such overbearing authority figures. 

            He walked down the hallway a few more steps and then the bell rang.

            "Great, third late of the day…" He mumbled. Luckily, the room wasn't too far away. He rushed in and stopped just inside the doorway. 

Johnny was overwhelmed by the actually _relaxing_ atmosphere of the room. It totally calmed him down, which struck Johnny as the total antithesis of what high school was based on. Seeing no teacher present, Johnny sat down in the empty seat closest to the projector screen.

            Ignoring the other two girls having an animated conversation across from him at the table, he started to look around the room. There was an upside to his father. Casually dropping his name in front of the guidance counselor got him just about any course he wanted. He was only really interested in getting put into a more advanced art class. He was hoping to be put with people who knew what they were doing. Johnny had become quite the artist, though his pillow case was getting a bit too small for all the drawings and books; he was going to have to find a new hiding place soon.

            The art room was a burst of colors. The usual off-white walls were covered with reprints of various paintings, including many by Johnny's favorite artist, Van Gogh, as well as shelves covered in various art supplies; paint, pastels, charcoal, etc. A plethora of easels were stacked in one corner. There weren't any desks, but the room was filled with tables surrounded by four to six chairs. Johnny's table had only four, one of them was empty. A few sinks lined with splattered cans full of paint brushes were along one wall.

            It wasn't till then that he started half-listening to the conversation of the girls across from him.

            "But you got Tasuki _last_ week!" The taller one with really short, layered brown hair said. Two clumps of her hair were dyed light blue and she had a purse strap with various patches pinned on it going across her school uniform.

            "Yeah, but Tasuki is MINE!" The girl next to her fought back. She was rather short for her age and had a very child like look to her. She had long, lighter brown hair and was wearing overalls. Johnny found her kind of cute, in that little kid kind of way.

            "Whatever, Inu Yasha's hotter," The short haired one said.

            "OOOOH! YOU DID NOT JUST GO THERE!" The long haired one exclaimed, insulted. "That's it! You know what this means!"

            The two girls glared at each other mockingly for a moment, then reached into their backpacks, whipped out folders and started comparing printed out pictures of what appeared to Johnny to be cartoons.

            "Look! I so wish I was that girl!" The short haired one said. 

"Yeah, but I'd do a little more than just kiss, hehehe…" The long haired one said in a not-too-innocent way. Johnny raised a disturbed eyebrow as the two giddy girls drooled over the 2-d images. He was debating whether or not to say something.

            Just then, a man walked in the room and went swiftly up to the front of the room, carrying a bean bag snowman.

            "GREETINGS BOYS, GIRLS, AND OTHER SUCH LOWER BEINGS!" The man announced. "WELCOME TO THE CHAOTIC WAYS THAT IS MY CLASSROOM! I am Mr. Izz and I shall be your slave master…I mean…teacher for this year," The class snickered.

            There was only one word that could describe this man. He was just…cool. He was kind of on the short side and wore a jean, long-sleeved button up shirt with a tie that had a coyote pushing a boulder over the edge of the cliff on to a roadrunner. He had glasses and short messy, dark haired touched with grey here and there. He looked like he had been around the block a time or too but just had a very interesting aura to him.

           "Welcome back all my deranged minions from previous years," Mr. Izz looked at the girls sitting across from Johnny. "Seeing as you were all supposed to have taken my Studio in Art class before this one, I'm not going to bore you with rules and expectations," Johnny gulped.

            _*Oops…*_

            "What do ya say we check and see if you actually remember anything from last year," Mr. Izz hit the light switch and pulled out an overhead projector as the class moaned. He put a transparency on and flicked the switch. A painting of wilting watches filled the white screen. Izz held up of the bean bag snowman.

            "The omnipresent Mr. Big Butt, for those of you who forgot, shall chose which of you doomed children shall be called on," Izz flung it at the back of the classroom. "Beena, would you grace us with your interpretation?"

            "Well, it shows how nothing is really stable anymore, not even time, as seen with the drooping clocks."

            "Very good," Izz caught Mr. Big Butt when the girl threw it back. Izz quickly switched transparencies to a painting of a snow scene with colonial dressed people being attacked by a wolf. "GAMMA!" Izz shouted, as he hurled the bean bag again at a person two feet away from him. This time it whacked some dude with so much gel in his hair that it could have been used for a crash helmet.

            "Wha?!" The kid sat up and picked Mr. Big Butt up off the table.

            "I'm shocked you came back after last year's torture, Mr. Gamma," Izz grinned evilly. "Your interpretation?"

            "Uh…" Gamma paused a moment. "Little Red Riding Hood went out with her posse and got attacked by the Big Bad Wolf?"

            "Mr. Gamma, I like to believe that with art there is no wrong answer, but…no," Izz snatched the bean bag back from Gamma and his eyes wondered slowly around the room, searching for his next victim. His gaze landed on Johnny. Johnny got suddenly very tense and tried to slouch down in his chair.

            "New kid, why don't you give it a try?" Izz tossed the bean bag nice and easy at Johnny, but Johnny still had trouble catching it. The class snickered a bit.

            "Um…w…well…" Johnny stuttered. He hated it when teachers called on him. He was always afraid of giving the wrong answer.

            "Calm down, what do you see?" Izz coaxed him.

            "Uh…n…nature versus…uh…man," Johnny muttered. He cleared his throat. "It uh…demonstrates nature retaliating against mankind for invading its habitat. It a..appears as though the wolf may be winning with the…the smaller battle against the ignorant peasants but from the brick chimneys in the… background and the barren trees it looks like nature is losing the war."

            Izz studied the picture for a moment as Johnny prepared himself to be yelled at.

            "That is probably the most insightful description I have ever gotten from a student on this painting," Izz said thoughtfully. He took the bean bag back from Johnny and shot him an approving smile. "Your new friend has just saved you from more torture. You may thank him after class. Right now you can use this period as a chance to warm up your artistic minds in preparation for this year. In other words, do something artsy." 

            "Wow, that was really good! Where'd you get that from?" The short haired girl asked him earnestly while Izz handed out some white drawing paper.

            "Uh…I don't know…I just did…" Johnny mumbled. Two people talking to him in one period was giving him the jitters. Johnny tried to immerse himself in drawing, but the girls wouldn't leave him alone.

            "That was cool! I would never have thought of that!" The long haired one exclaimed. Johnny continued drawing.

            "How old are you, I don't think I've ever seen you around here before," The shorted haired one persisted.

            "I'm a freshman," Johnny answered curtly.

            "How'd you get in this class? I thought you needed the prerequisite," The short haired girl asked again. Johnny was getting irritated.

            "My dad has a little pull with the counselor," He said quickly, hunching over his paper, bangs falling in his face. Before he knew what had happened though, his drawing was gone and the short haired devil woman clutched in her hands.

            "Oh my God! Jez, check this out!" The devil woman showed it to her friend.

            "Wow! Where'd you learn to draw like that?!" The long haired one, now named Jez, exclaimed. Johnny blushed slightly, trying to decide it they were just being mean or actually meant it.

            "Uh, I taught myself, I guess…"

            "You have to join our art club!" The devil woman said. "You'd have a blast! It starts after school today!"

            Johnny stared at her from under his fallen bangs, not quite believing if the statement was altruistic or not. Usually when he was invited places, people were just being sarcastic. Or when he got there, they dumped buckets of blood on him. No wait, that was Carrie…

            "You really want me to?"

            "Yeah! You'll fit in perfect! I'm Kit by the way!" The short haired one extended her hand.

            "Uh…Johnny."

~          ~          ~

            Vicky walked out of the band room, violin case in hand, busily chatting to her girlfriends, some of them dressed up in cheerleader uniforms, the others with their pleated skirts hiked up too high.

            "Oh my God, are you serious?" She said. "He said that?!"

            "On my honor as head cheerleader, he did!" Some red head with a pointy nose and southern accent exclaimed. "So she's like…"

            "VICKY!" A voice called from down the hall. The group of girls turned around to see some scrawny little goth loser running down the hall. On instinct, the majority of the group cringed at the sight of him coming toward them and took a step backward, but Vicky called back.

            "Johnny! Where's the fire?" She asked. Johnny came to a halt in front of her and paused a moment to catch his breath.

            "Um, I'm staying after school today."

            "For what?"

            "There's this art club I got invited to.

            "Um, I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Johnny. If Dad finds out…"

            "That's why I need you to cover for me!" Johnny exclaimed.

            "What? Well, sure I guess I can do that. You better make sure he doesn't find out," Vicky said.

            "Don't worry! This is me we're talking about!" Johnny said with a crooked grin and ran off down the hall. Vicky turned around and headed back to her group.

            "So, she said what?"

            "Vicky, what was that?" A blonde asked disgusted.

            "What do you mean?"

            "You…you…_conversed with that…__freak!" A bubbly brunette commented, unnerved._

            "Well…he's…"

            "Listen, Vicky dear," The red head put an arm around Vicky and guided her down the hall. "I would never steer you wrong, you know that, right?"

            "Yeah…"

            "Ok, good. See, these first few weeks of high school can either make you, or break you. If you're seen hanging out with…_those_ types of people, you will forever be incarcerated as a loser. And once you get on that list, it's extremely hard to get off it. Understand?"

            "Yeah, but…"

            "Trust me on this, sweetie, as an upperclassman and mentor. Try to stay away from the likes of him," The group of girls all consented.

            Vicky nodded, a tad confused. But then again, her friends did know much more about the subject than she did. Besides, not talking to Johnny in school wouldn't change their relationship any.

The red head changed subjects.

            "So did you see that total hottie checking you out? I think he's a football player…"

~          ~          ~

            Johnny walked back into the art room after school, laden down with twice as many books since art class earlier that day. His felt like his arms were going to fall off. He quickly hurried to the nearest table and dropped his stuff on the table, a small dent forming under the weight of his back pack. 

            Johnny looked up and took in the sights of the already assembling group. A bunch of people either sat or stood around the tables, having conversations, all of them very animated. Nearby a guy and girl were having an argument.

            "Duo is SO gay!" The guy with puffy brown hair said to a rather miffed gothic girl, having changed between classes was dressed in all black with really, really long brown hair and big black boots.

            "Tom, DUO IS NOT GAY!!!" She yelled.

            "HIS IS TO! I HAVE PICTURES, INA! PROOF!" Tom hollered back, waving a finger and starting to pick up a really bad British accent.

            "Tom," Ina retaliated, also speaking in a much better accent. "Any idiot with a pencil could have drawn those and posted them on the internet!"

            Tom paused.

            "SO! I still have them!" He fought back, his accent turning Australian now. Johnny just gave them a strange look and turned away as Kit bounded up to him.

            "JOHNNY! Great that you could make it!" She said with a grin. "Welcome to our Anime slash Art slash Other Crazy Stuff club. We're still working on a better name for the yearbook," She added.

            "Johnny made it, yay!" Jez exclaimed. Johnny blushed and pulled his hair out of his eyes. Jez chirped. "Oh my God! You have the best anime eyes! I have to draw you!" So she pulled out a paper and did. Johnny raised an eyebrow.

            "Ok," Eve said, getting ready to introduce people. "That's Bri, Ina, Tom, Kat, Ana, Ryn, Ang…" She pointed out the people too quick for Johnny to catch everybody.

            "Hey, what's with all the three letter names?" He asked.

            "Oh, that's their nicknames! Everyone in our club has three letter nicknames," Kit said matter of factly.

            "Why?"

            "Uh….I don't…know…We just do!!!" She bubbled. Johnny raised an eyebrow. Jez popped her head up from her picture.

            "We need to think of a name for Johnny!" She exclaimed. 

            "You're right!" Kit said. "Hmm, what can we get from 'Johnny'?"

            "Your full name is, Jonathon, right?" Jez asked. Johnny cringed.

            "How about, Jon or…Tho?" Kit thought out loud. 

            "I HATE my full name," Johnny said, angrily.

            "Oh! Ok then how about, Joh? Maybe Ohn?"

            "I KNOW!!" Jez screamed. "N-N-Y! NNY! LIKE KNEE CAP!"

            "Yeah! That's great!" Kit said.

            "Uh…" Johnny started to say.

            "HEY EVERYBODY! THIS IS NNY!" Kit shouted out to the group. They all said enthusiastic hellos.

            "Nny?! DUDE! THAT'S SUCH A COOL NAME!" Some brunette with purple bangs called.

            "Welcome to our insanity!" Tom said. "Please keep your hands and legs inside the car at all times, lest the demons try to bite your extremities off." He pointed to Ina as he said monsters. She saw him and whacked him hard upside the head. He yelped.

            Johnny smiled, and for the first time in his life since his mother died, felt welcomed.

~          ~          ~

            Vicky walked in the door to the kitchen and set her stuff on the counter to get a drink. Her father bustled in the room eating a large cherry and blueberry muffin while reading a newspaper. It took him a second to notice Vicky was home.

            "Oh, hello honey! How was school?" He said with a warm smile.

            "Excellent Daddy! I'm the only freshman in the upper classman orchestra! And the conductor put me in first chair!" She said excitedly.

            "That's wonderful! I knew all those years of practice would pay off! Now if only your brother had that conviction…" Her father paused and looked up from the paper for the first time since he walked in the room. Vicky gulped.

            "Where is your brother?" He said, dangerously.

            "Uh…I think he said he was staying after school…for extra help on how to start the year off on a good note," She lied quickly, which was amazingly easy for her. Her father looked at her for a moment and she thought that he knew she was lying. But he smiled and wrapped her in a big hug.

            "I'm glad you had a good day at school, Victoria," He said lovingly, then whisked out of the room. Vicky stared after him a moment, then, having done as she promised Johnny, went back to her snack, and didn't give her lie a second thought.


	14. ISSUE FOURTEEN: Calm Before the Storm

**ISSUE FOURTEEN**

**Calm Before the Storm**

            Flash-forward a bit. It was still freshman year, but quite a few months later. It was spring and Johnny was actually enjoying himself in school. He had become good friends with the two crazy girls from his art class and was doing quite well.

            Things seemed to be better at home as well. Since Johnny stayed after school in the art room, he didn't see as much of his father which was fine with him. The less he saw him, the less beatings he got.

            With Vicky though, Johnny felt a faint distancing as of late. He didn't see her as much as he used to. He figured she just had a lot of things to do, so he though nothing of it. For now, anyway.

            "No way!" Vicky gossiped on the phone. She was on her canopy bed, her room still pink and purple. "Yeah right!" She exclaimed, starting to get giddy in the way preppy chicks seem to. "Of course I'm going to the party…yeah, I need to get some money for that skirt…of I know! The prices there are outrageous!"

            Just then, she heard a door slam.

            "Oh, Dad's home, I better go, bye!" Vicky hung up the phone and ran downstairs into the kitchen. "Hey Dad!"

            "Oh, hello Victoria hun!" He said, riffling through his briefcase on the counter.

            "Daddy, I need some money to get this skirt I need," Vicky said.

            "Didn't you just get a new skirt last weekend?"

            "Yeah… But I need a _new_ skirt for this party. Please?!" Vicky pleaded.

            "I don't think so honey, maybe next week," Her father said and he turned away to get something out of the refrigerator. Vicky took this opportunity to snatch her father's unprotected wallet from its resting place by the briefcase and very un-sneakily took a few twenties from it. She tossed it unceremoniously back on the counter and started out the door.

            "Ok, thanks anyway Dad."

            "Oh, hun?" Vicky paused.

            "Yeah?"

            "Where's Jonathon?"

            "Staying after for math help," Vicky lied. "I'm going out with some friends, OK?"

            "He stays after a lot. Maybe I'll drop in for a conference to see how he's doing," Her father mused, but Vicky was already out the door and didn't hear him. He walked over to the phone and dialed the number to the school, knowing it from heart as he was good friends with the principal.

            "Hello!" He said when the other end picked up. "I was wondering how long the after school session lasts? My son Jonathon is getting help with Mr. Brary and I wanted to drop in."

            "Oh, I'm sorry, sir. Mr. Brary broke his leg last weekend. He hasn't been in school."

            "Really?" He raised an eyebrow. "Are there any other teachers staying after school today he might be with?"

            "Hold on…all the teachers are in a meeting right now, except for…Mr. Izz, the art teacher."

            "Ok, thank you, goodbye!" Their father said quickly and he hung up the phone, rather hard, almost knocking it off the wall. He reached for his keys and wallet when he noticed something was wrong. He quickly counted the money and realized about sixty dollars was gone. Jumping to conclusions, he rushed upstairs, taking two steps at a time, and burst into Johnny's room. Needless to say, it didn't take long for him to find Johnny's stash in its bursting pillowcase.

~          ~          ~

            "SAY TASUKI!"

            "WHERE?!" Jez exclaimed.

            *CLICK*

            The yearbook photographer wound the film back into the finished roll as the perfectly formed rows of people escaped from the insane asylum dissipated and went back to whatever they do during the usual club meeting. Jez was still frantically looking for her promised "man slave".

            "I thought he was tied in my basement!" She exclaimed, looking under Kit's foot for him.

            "Jez," Johnny said. "I don't understand your obsession. It's just a drawing, you know."

            Jez took a sharp gasp.

            "Uh oh, Nny," Kit said, backing up.

            "Wha?"

            "Just a drawing?" Jez said, starting to breathe hard.

            "You shouldn't have said that!" Ryn said, hiding behind Kit.

            "Why?"

            "JUST A DRAWING!?!"

            "HIT THE DIRT!"

            "What's going on?" Johnny said confused.

            "OHMYGODHOWCOULDYOUSAYTHATHE'SJUSTADRAWINGHE'SSOHOTANDMYGODICAN'T

BELIEVEYOUSAIDTHAT!" Jez exploded.

            "Her head is starting to spin!" Ryn yelled. Kit tackled Jez and clasped a hand over her mouth.

            "What idiot insulted Jez's drawings again?" Ina piped up from across the room. Just then, a figure darkened the doorway, his imminent presence putting a damper on the room. Johnny shivered as he slowly turned around.

            "Hello sir, can I help you?" Mr. Izz asked.

            "Jonathon," His father snapped softly. Johnny still jumped. "He has an…appointment he's late for."

            Johnny stood there quaking for a moment, waiting to see if and fearing that his father would do something in front of all these people. Luckily, he just glared at him.

            "Get your stuff, let's go," He ordered curtly. Johnny quickly grabbed his backpack, mumbled a good bye to his bewildered friends and skirted into the hallway behind his father.

            His father said nothing in the hall and nothing in the car ride home. The silence unnerved Johnny because as the calm predicts the coming storm, Johnny knew hell would be visiting once they got home.

            The car slid into the garage and the engine expired.

            "Get to your room," His father commanded with the same quiet forcefulness. Johnny did so like there was no tomorrow. He rushed upstairs, all the while looking for the presence of his sister, hoping against hope she was there. She was nowhere to be found.

           Johnny got to his room and was about to try and hide in the closet when he noticed what was spread all over his bed, the pillowcase laying forgotten on the floor. All his art books, drawings, comic books; Johnny stood stock still, filled with pure fear. He turned to shut the door and his raging father out, but was greeted by a hard backhand across the face.

            "You filthy liar!" His father bellowed as Johnny stumbled back. He swung again, but this time Johnny ducked, which enraged his father even more. He grabbed Johnny by the hair and rammed him against the wall.

            "Did you think I wouldn't find out, you worthless, ignorant brat!" He punched Johnny again. Johnny slid down the wall into a sitting position.

            "I…I…they…" Johnny stuttered, trying to talk through the coppery, metallic taste of his own blood in his mouth. His father paid no mind to his mumbling.

            "And getting your sister to lie for you! Corrupting mongrel!" He kicked the fallen figure. Johnny was positive he felt a rib crack. "I can't believe you would try and destroy her like that!"

            "B…But…"

            WHAM! Johnny got slammed with an unexpected wrench his father had gotten from the garage.

            "SHUT UP! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR WHINING!"

            THWACK!

            The world started swimming in front of Johnny's eyes.

~          ~          ~

            Vicky pranced back in the house. She had only gone down to the local strip mall so her shopping venture hadn't taken long. She clutched a bright pick bag in her hand, containing her brand new mini-skirt. She rushed upstairs to stash it in her room when she heard her father's screaming.

            _*Oh no…*_

            She suddenly remembered her father saying something about meeting Johnny after school. She dropped her bag and raced to Johnny's room where she found her father poised over a horribly beaten Johnny, a wrench in his hand.

            "WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY?!"

            "*cough* what…"

            "THE SIXTY DOLLARS YOU STOLE FROM MY WALLET!"

            "I…di…didn't…" Johnny struggled to chock out, having a rather hard time breathing.

            "LIAR!" His father raised the wrench.

            "I DID IT!" Vicky screamed. His father whipped around, Johnny just lay, unmoving.

            "Nonsense! You don't have to take the fall for him…"

            "BUT I DID! I stole the sixty dollars from your wallet to buy the skirt I wanted! It wasn't Johnny, please don't hurt him anymore!"

            Her father stood for a moment, shocked. Vicky shrunk back a little, as he still had the wrench. He took a breath and with mad rage turned on Johnny again.

            "YOU PUT HER UP TO THIS!"

            "NO DADDY!" Vicky grabbed her father's arm to stop him, but he shook her off, causing her to fall and bump her head on the bed stand. She looked up at her father a moment, and then raced out of the room.

            "VICKY! WAIT!" Her father called after her. He turned to Johnny. "You leech, this is your fault!" He kicked Johnny again, then dropped the wrench and followed Vicky. It didn't matter; Johnny was too numb to feel it anyway.

            Vicky raced down the hall and hid in a closet to get away from her father who hurried past a few moments later, calling out concernedly for her. Vicky waited until she was sure he was gone and stepped out and hurried back to Johnny's room.

            On closer inspection, Johnny looked a lot worse than she originally thought. His face was as mess and his school uniform was horribly stained with blood, there would be no way to wash it out. Vicky wasn't sure if he was conscious or not, so after going and getting the first aid kit (which she wasn't sure if it would help), gently shook him.

            "Johnny, Johnny, are you ok?" She asked gently. He let out a painful groan and she stopped shaking him.

            "Do I look ok?" He rasped, coughing and then wincing.

            "Johnny, maybe we should call 911…you look and sound terrible. I think your rib is broken…"

            "No."

            Vicky sighed and figured it would be a waste to fight with him.

            "Can you get up?"

            He moaned in response. Vicky felt terrible, but didn't make him move and tried to do the best she could with her first aid kit, but she wasn't sure how much unseen damage there was.

            "Johnny, I'm sorry, I should've been here. I left and he...I'm so sorry."

            "Yeah, that does a lot of good," Johnny coughed and tried to roll over with little success.

            "I feel so bad…"

            "Yeah, sure. Try being hit with a wrench repetitively. Oh sorry, you don't have to worry about it."

            "Johnny, I…"

            "Go away." And he didn't say another word as he closed his eyes. Vicky winced, left him some extra strength pain killer and did as he asked.

            As she slipped out in the hallway, she saw her father coming towards her. She gulped but wasn't able to get away.

           "Vicky, I'm sorry you had to see that, but I'm very disappointed that you stole that money," Her father said solemnly. Vicky nodded. "I think I'm going to have to ground you for awhile."

            "But Daddy, there's a party tonight!"

            "I'm sorry honey, but you have to learn."

            Vicky thought a moment. A perfect opportunity…

            "OK Daddy…"

            "That's my girl," He patted her head and walked off.

~          ~          ~

            Johnny eventually got up enough strength to drag himself to his bed, but that was about it. He didn't even change his clothes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

            He was awakened by the shrill sound of the telephone. He reached over, picked up the phone, strained, and dropped it next to his ear.

            "Hello?" He rasped.

            "Whoa, is that you Nny?" It was Jez. Johnny tried to clear his throat but to no avail.

            "Um yeah."

            "You sound horrible!"

            "Yeah, strep throat. I had a doctor's appointment; I haven't been feeling too good lately. It suddenly got worse," He quickly made up.

            "Oh, I hope you feel better. We were kind of worried about you."

            "Thanks. Hey, I don't think I'll be able to stay after school anymore…"

            "No! Why not! Is it your dad?"

            "Yeah, how'd you know?" Nny asked, slightly worried Vicky had opened her big mouth.

            "You turned as white as a sheet when he walked in! We were majorly creeped!"

            "Oh…He got kinda mad at me for staying after. Said I should be studying."

            "So, stay after and say you're studying."

            "Tried that, made him even madder I was lying."

            "So, half the time study with a teacher, and the other half hang with us! You shouldn't let him control you so much. It's your life!"

            "You don't quite understand…He's tough…And he's not quite into the art thing. He thinks I should be a lawyer."

            "HAHAHA! That's a good one. Listen, Johnny, no one should stop you from doing what you want to do."

            "You think so?"

            "Of course!"

            "Thanks," Her words comforted Johnny quite a bit. He would have smiled if it didn't hurt. "I'm kind of tired. I don't think I'll be in school tomorrow, but I'll see you when I get back."

            She said good-bye and Nny hit the off button on the phone, leaving it one the pillow as his arms felt like beaten veal. Nny turned his head to the side and looked out the crack in his door. His sister's door was open as well and he could see in. Just in time to see her crawl out of her window using tied together sheets as a rope in a short miniskirt. Johnny let out an angered sigh and rolled his head to the other side, knowing she would get away with it.

~          ~          ~

            Vicky easily snuck out of the house, met up with her friends at the end of the street whom she had called for help and they were quickly at the afore mentioned party. Vicky was secretly hoping that her father would get mad enough at her to make it up to Johnny, though she said nothing to her friends about it all, who told her time and time again to ditch him.

            Vicky quickly forgot about her problems at home once she got there though.

            "Yo, Vicky," Her red head friend drawled. "That guy over there is so totally checking you out!"

            "No way," Vicky said and spun around to see the guy in question. The guy in question stood next a window with a drink in his hand wearing a varsity jacket.

            "You should go ask him out! He's a hottie!" The red head said and gave her a little shove. Vicky walked across the room to said guy and quickly struck up a conversation.

            The two talked for quite sometime and things were going well until Vicky asked him to dance.

            "Uh, look, you're a cool chick and all, but you look way too much like that freak who hangs around the art room all the time. Maybe if you tried something with your hair or something," The guy said and moved away.

            Vicky came home with blonde hair that night.


	15. ISSUE FIFTEEN: The Final Straw

**ISSUE FIFTEEN**

**The Final Straw**

            The next time jump lands three years later; senior year of high school. It took Johnny awhile to recover from the beating with the wrench, however, his relationship with his sister never quite mended. She, of course, didn't get in trouble for sneaking out. And as for her hair, it took her father a week to even notice what she had done. And thus the growing gap between them widened into a chasm.

            Of course they were still _somewhat_ there to look out for each other when need be. They were brother and sister after all. But Johnny was becoming more aware of Vicky's Jekyll and Hyde act; acting like a total bitch around her friends and then being nice at home.

            As to his father, beatings persisted. Never as bad as the wrench incident; Johnny was becoming rather good at avoiding his father. He had been quite shaken and though he despised his father, he was still fearful of him. Johnny, taking Jez's advice, continued to hang out with his friends after school. And despite the 'help' he got, his grades were just barely above passing. Except for art. Which was exactly how he wanted it. He knew the lowest he could get his grades, the smaller chance his father would be able to get him into law school. He didn't even bother with the SATs.

            Of course, by senior year, all his friends had graduated and there was no one left to continue the 'club'. It didn't bother him too much. They still kept in touch, but Johnny was becoming fond of being alone.

            Johnny stood at an easel in the art room, wrapped up in an Egyptian themed painting when the bell to signal the end of class sounded. Johnny ignored it and continued working as the rest of his programmed class meandered out the door to herd to their next destination. As Johnny was putting the finishing touches on his painting, Mr. Izz walked up behind him holding an envelope.

            "The bell rang, Nny," Mr. Izz said. Johnny jumped, startled.

            "Oh, sorry Mr. Izz. I didn't hear it," Johnny started cleaning up.

            "Hold on! I was hoping you could stay for a moment. I wanted to talk to you."

            "Um, ok." Johnny set the supplies back down.

            "I was down by guidance the other day and I noticed you were still undecided as to what college you're going to."

            "Yeah…well…I'm not sure if I'm going to…"

            "I got this in the mail today," Izz held up the envelope. "I was wondering if you would open it for me."

            Johnny gave Izz a funny look but took the envelope, opened it and read the letter. Johnny's eyes got wide.

            "HOLY MOOSE!"

            Izz smiled.

            "Th…this…this…." Johnny stuttered, too excited to get the words out.

            "Yes."

            "Best art college…"

            "Yes."

            "Scholarship?!"  
            "Uh huh. Full one."

            "But I didn't…I mean…well I don't…"

            "I took the liberty of filling an application for you. They loved the sample I sent. You're going to have to take your SATs for it to be set in stone though."

            "Oh my…I ca…thanks!"

            "My pleasure."

            "I…I have to…" Johnny pointed to the door.

            "Go ahead."

            "Thanks! WOHOOO!!!" Johnny hollered as he ran down the hall. Izz smiled and started cleaning up Johnny's forgotten paint supplied.

~          ~          ~

            "Oh, come on, you have to go Vicky!" A blonde cheerleader begged Vicky.

            "I'm sorry, y'all know I don't drink," Vicky said, checking her own blonde hair for black roots in a small compact mirror. Ever since the red head graduated, Vicky had become the ringleader of her preppy group of friends as she was the preppiest of them all, right down to the light southern accent she had acquired from said red head. Right now, they were sitting at the stone table and benches situated in the middle of the school courtyard during their free period.

            "I…" Vicky started.

            "Uh oh," Someone cut her off, looking across the courtyard. "Loser alert."

            Vicky turns around to see her scruffy brother racing towards them, clutching a paper and grinning insanely.

            "Just ignore it and it'll go away," She said with disgust, turning around before he could see her, but it was too late.

            "VICKY!" Johnny shouted. She tried ignored him, but he came up behind her and grabbed her arm. "Vicky, I need to talk to you!"

            Vicky made a face only her friends could see as Johnny yanked her out of her seat and pulled her out of earshot of the table.

            "Excuse you!" She yanked her arm away. "Please do not address me in public!"

            "What?" Johnny's smile instantly faded.

            "Look, I'm sure whatever it is is really important but…" Vicky looked over her shoulder to her friends who were starting to give her strange looks. Johnny caught exactly what she meant. "This really isn't…"

            "Oh, sorry princess. I forgot."

            "What?"

            "Forgot you were too busy holding court to humor your own brother," He snapped pissed.

            "Now Johnny, I…"

            "No, I understand. Please, don't keep your subjects waiting. I know how taxing it is to snub us little people…"

            "That's not what…"

            "Here, I'll do it for you," Johnny spun around and stalked away.

            "Johnny!" Vicky called after him but he ignored her. Vicky stared after him for a moment, feeling immensely guilty. She walked back to her table.

            "What was that all about?"

            "Oh, nothing. Now, where was that party again?"

~          ~          ~

            Johnny sat in his room, smearing different shades of furious red and orange on one of a few small canvases that he was able to smuggle in before his father got home from work. Loud, angry rock music spilled from his headphones as he worked.

            "Bitch," Johnny grumbled to himself. "I can't believe that whore." Johnny had been working like this for quite for some time, his CD player on repeat. He'd been so pissed off by Vicky he hadn't even stayed after school like he usually did.

            Johnny was numb to the world, absolutely nothing penetrating his little bubble until a lull came in the music and he heard the phone ring. Johnny took off his head phones as the answering machine picked up.

            "Um…ok…uh…Johnny? Are you there? Please pick up," Johnny recognized that tone. He didn't know the exact owner, but he knew it had to be one of Vicky's preppy little friends; probably calling at Vicky's bidding to piss him off more. He started to put his head phones back on.

"Um…jeeze, I can't believe this…its Vicky, Johnny," He paused. "We're kind of worried about her…I didn't think one person could drink that many bottles of scotch…" Johnny picked up the phone on this.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" He snapped.

"Oh, you are there!" The girl said shocked with what sounded like an edge of fear. "We need you to come pick up Vicky…"

"Why, you and your little friends too high to?" Johnny shot at her. "Or did she tell you to get me to come out there to humiliate me?"

"Well, no…nothing like that…" The girl was taken back. "She's really drunk…hold on…GET HER OFF THE TABLE AND MAKE SURE SHE KEEPS HER CLOTHES ON! Sorry, but we're worried and the people with cars…well…are drunk too…"

Johnny sighed.

"Fine, I'm coming," Johnny gave in and scribbled the address down on his hand before hanging up, putting his CD player on a table and tossing his paint tools in a cup of water on the bed stand. Johnny snuck downstairs and did a quick father check. He found a note on the table addressed to Vicky saying that their father was at a business party and wouldn't be back till three. Translation: Dad had won his case and the druggie client was congratulating him by paying for the company party with his cocaine money. Johnny checked the clock; two AM. He had an hour.

Johnny grabbed a set of keys off the hooks by the door to the garage which originally was the ice skating rink. After his mother died though, his father used it to extend his car collection. He leapt in to his father's silver convertible without opening the door, and sped off.

~          ~          ~

Johnny could tell he was near a party over two blocks away; much too loud boy band music and drunken couples making out behind trees. Luckily he was able to park right in front of the house. Johnny hurried up to the front door and let himself in, instantly gagging on the sour smell of booze and sweat, trying his hardest not to hurl. The few people who were still comprehensible shot Johnny death glares informing him he didn't belong there. Fortunately, a girl with blonde hair rushed up to him, Johnny guessed she was the one who called.

"Johnny! There you are! Come on, she's in here," The girl led him into another room. Within the room, were masses of people rubbing against each other. And dancing on a table in the center of it all was Vicky. And of course she wasn't dancing alone. Some jock danced on the table with her, much too close for Johnny's tastes, the expression 'easy screw' written all over his face. Vicky looked over the guy's shoulder.

"Yo Johnny-boy! Wazzup?" She slurred.

"Come on Vicky, we're going home." Johnny said, grabbing Vicky's wrist and pulling her off the table.

"Aw, I'm havin' fun…" She pouted. "Ooo, bourbon!" She reached for a glass off a tray as it passed by.

"Uh-uh, no more alcohol for you," Johnny grabbed it from her and put it back on the tray. Vicky giggled as some spilled on the floor. "I think you've had one too many."

"Psh! I'm not drunk," Vicky took a step forward and then fell. Johnny caught her as she started giggling again.

"Hey Noodle Boy!" The jock jumped off the table. "She doesn't want to go!"

Johnny turned around after making sure Vicky was upright.

"Step off, jockstrap."  
            "Hey! You don't talk to me like that, you skinny little fag!" The jock took a swing at Johnny but, having much practice, he easily ducked around it and punched the jock in the stomach, sending the drunken jock reeling back into the table, hitting his head on it, knocking him out.

"He must have been tired," Vicky said. Johnny turned back around and started to herd her out to the car, leaving everyone staring at him in his wake.

"You are such a fucking drag," Vicky informed her brother outside, almost falling again. Johnny stood her upright.

"You'll thank me in the morning," Johnny said, opening the car door for her. She had just passed out on the sidewalk though. Johnny sighed, and picked her up, placing her in the car.

~          ~          ~

Johnny pulled in the garage and turned the car off. Vicky was still asleep in the front seat. Johnny carefully picked her up and carried her to her room. That's when Johnny heard a door close downstairs, and he panicked. Johnny checked the clock; not too long after three. Johnny quickly ran over in his mind to make sure everything was in place. He had put the keys back, made sure to park the car in the right place, the garage door…shit, he'd left the garage door open. Johnny rushed over to his room and turned the lights off. Through his cracked door, he could hear his father come up the stairs. Luckily, his father just went straight to his room and closed the door. Johnny sighed in relief, hid the paint supplies in the fake bottom of his chest, shoved his painting in the closet for the time being and went to bed.

~          ~          ~

Johnny woke up late the next morning but as far as he could tell, no one was up yet. He rushed the painting up to his stash in the attic and then checked on his sister. She was still asleep with a troubled expression on her face. Vicky cracked open an eye as Johnny set it down a glass of water and some aspirin, then moaned and pulled the covers over her head. Johnny rolled his eyes then headed downstairs. It was Saturday and he was hoping there might be some good cartoons on.

As he headed to the kitchen, Johnny heard his father on the telephone. Johnny sighed in dismay and started back to his room when something his father was saying snagged his curiosity and he went back to the doorway of the kitchen.

"Yes, I'm very sorry for the mix up…no he won't be accepting it…yes…ok, goodbye," He hung up the phone quite forcefully. Johnny started to back up, realizing he was in danger.

"JONATHON! GET IN HERE!" His father yelled. Johnny stepped just inside the doorway.

"Yes?"

His father rushed over to him and slapped him. Johnny could tell just by looking at him he had an obvious hangover.

"What the hell is this?!" He shoved a paper in Johnny's face. Johnny gulped; his acceptance letter. He'd left it on the kitchen counter. Johnny stayed silent.

"I hope you weren't planning on going here," His father ripped the paper in half in his face. "I took care of that this morning."

"What?!" Johnny finally spit out.

"I nipped it in the bid. I called these… 'people' this morning. Now some other riff raff can waste his time…"

"You cancelled my scholarship?! That's the best art college…" Johnny started yelling. His father slapped him again.

"I don't want to hear anymore of this art garbage! Now you screwed up your chances for Harvard but I'm sure a local college will take you," He opened a college book on the counter. "I'm going to have to pay for your sorry ass now. Victoria got a full scholarship for her violin audition. I don't have to worry about her."

"I don't want to go to law school! I'm not you and don't want to be anything like you!" Johnny yelled defiantly. Nobody, not even his father would ruin his chances of going to that college.

"DON'T TALK BACK!" His father shoved him into the wall. "While you live under my roof, you do what I say!" His father swung his hand to punch Johnny but Johnny blocked it without blinking.

"Fine, I can fix that," Johnny said and he rushed out of the room.

"What, you're gonna runaway?!" He father started shouting after him.

"No, Father! The authorities call it becoming an independent, you know, being 18 and all?" Johnny hurried up the stairs.

"Yeah well, I pay for your sorry ass to go to that school, you walk out that door, I don't finish paying for your last two months of high school!"

Johnny paused. Leaving would ruin his chance at college, but he couldn't stay any longer.

"Fine," He said, so resolved now he was almost in a trance. He marched into his room and started shoving stuff in a backpack.

"You're an idiot! You'll never amount to anything!"

Johnny was gone before Vicky woke up.


	16. ISSUE SIXTEEN: 777

**ISSUE SIXTEEN**

**777**

Johnny sat at a bus stop by himself, fuming at the audacity of his father. At least he was finally away from it all. As of right now, he was trying to figure out what to do next. The only luggage he had with him was a backpack and a small suitcase, both of which weren't very heavy. He had few possessions that held much worth to him. His stereo and stash of paintings in the attic were the only things he couldn't carry with him.

            His plan was to go as far as his money could take him. Exactly where, he had no clue. He was just working on what he was going to do once he got to his mystery destination when an old, blue BMW pulled up to the bus stop and rolled down the window.

            "Need a ride, little boy?" A familiar voice asked. Johnny smirked.

            "Sorry, I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," He replied.

            "I got Fiz Wiz?!" Jez offered.

            "Well in that case…" Johnny tossed his stuff in the back seat and jumped in. "Wow! I didn't think you were tall enough to see over the steering wheel!"

            "HEY!"

~          ~          ~

            "That's so mean!" Jez exclaimed in that little kid way that made her so unique. Johnny had just finished his story of getting kicked out. The two were now back in Jez and Kit's apartment, standing in the small kitchen. The kitchen itself was that typical off white kitchen color. The rest of their apartment was decorated in anime and art, just as Johnny had imagined it would be.

            "Your dad has problems!" Kit continued, fitting a set of pointy dog ears to her head.

            "You have no idea…" Johnny mumbled under his breath.

            "So, what're ya gonna do now?" Jez asked, not hearing him.

            "Well, I was gonna take the bus to somewhere far away, like Kentucky or something…"

            "Where everyone is married to their cousins? Yeah, right! (AN: No offense to anyone from Kentucky intended!)" Kit said sarcastically.

            "You got any better ideas?"

            "Well, why don't you stay at our place for a few days, and look for a job."

            "Where?"

            "Well, I heard this NERVE place was looking for artists…" Jez piped up.

~          ~          ~

            Vicky didn't wake up until way past noon. It was almost dinnertime by the time she tried to drag herself out of bed. She gladly gulped down the laid out aspirin to quell her pounding headache and hangover. She trudged grumpily into the hallway and paused outside her brother's door. She supposed she should say 'thanks' for taking her home before she did something even more stupid. Vicky knocked on the door. When she got no answer, she stuck her head in a little bit, sometimes he had his headphones on. No Johnny.

            So Vicky shrugged and headed downstairs. After looking for awhile, she went to ask her father. But he had locked himself in his study, which was never a good sign.

            Vicky tried the kitchen next and found nothing but two ripped pieces of paper on the floor. She picked them up, pieced them together and scanned through the letter. She instantly felt ten times more horrible then she already felt; this was an acceptance letter to his dream school. She knew what must have happened. But before she could think anymore, she ran to the bathroom to vomit.

~          ~          ~

            A few days later, Johnny was in an office for an interview.

            "These samples are very impressive, Mr. Jonathon C…" The interviewer started, wearing a grey suit and black tie. Johnny found the stitches across his forehead weird, but he tried not to stare.

            "Please, call me Johnny," Johnny cut him off.

            "Mr. Johnny," The interviewer corrected himself, placing the samples back on the grey desk in front of him, which matched the dreary colored room. He extended a hand. "I believe you have a job with us." The two shook hands. "Now, on your résumé here, you don't have a place of residence listed…"

            "Yeah, I'm still looking for a permanent place to stay," Johnny started.

            "Really?!" The interviewer was instantly piqued for some very odd reason.

            "Um…yeah, I was kind of kicked out of the last place I was living…"

            "Just one moment please! I need to call the Boss," The interviewer said quickly. He sounded almost excited. He spun around and quickly punched some numbers on the phone. A second later he was speaking in a hushed whisper. Johnny quirked an eyebrow and stared at him. A few moments later, he turned around.

            "The company has a house you can stay in completely on us while you work here,"

            "Huh? Just like that?"

            The interviewer nodded.

            "What's the catch?" Johnny narrowed his eyes.

            "No catch! We always take care of our employees…" The interviewer grinned evilly.

~          ~          ~

            The very rude cab driver with bad breath pulled to a halt. Johnny got out of the car, wishing he could strangle the man with the seatbelt instead of paying him. As the cab pulled away, Johnny looked at his new home, 777.

            "Fixer-upper my ass," He commented as he stared in disbelief at the dilapidated one story building that looked as if it should be next on the demolition list.

            Johnny sighed deeply and walked into the unlocked front door. Luckily, the place was already furnished, well, if one could call the bare couch and bunny eared television set 'furnished'. Johnny dropped his bags on the floor and took a step into the kitchen. It was empty with the exception of a stove and some empty cabinets. Johnny went back to the 'living room'.

            Johnny looked around the room to see if there was anything else to it when he noticed stairs going down. He followed them down into complete darkness. At the base of the stairs, he found a light switch and flicked on a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. He was awed by the huge collection of knives and other weapons piled haphazardly around the room. He figured the last occupant must have collected them, though it struck Johnny as odd that some looked 'used' and there was no case for them.

            Johnny shrugged and went back upstairs. He hadn't found a bedroom, so he fell asleep on the couch.

~          ~          ~

            Vicky was woken up by a crash from the next room. She rolled over and looked at the clock; it was one in the morning. She figured it was just her father coming back from another party and tried to go back to sleep. It was another crash followed by someone cursing loudly that made Vicky jumped out of bed. She looked out her window and down at the driveway. A beat-up BMW sat in the driveway with the headlights on.

            ~*That's not Dad's car…*~

            She grabbed a good-sized bronze statuette from her chest of drawers and quietly stepped out into the hallway as more cursing came from her brother's room. She went over to the doorway and stuck her head in. Inside, a thin, dark figure was trying to pick up Johnny's stereo system, the CD scattered on the floor. Vicky raised the statue, snuck up behind the figure and brought it down as hard as she could on the burglar. 

            "FUCK!" It screamed as it dropped to the floor. "What the hell was that for?"

            Vicky quickly flicked on the lights.

            "JOHNNY! I'm sorry; I didn't know it was you!" She dropped the statue and tried to help him up. He shook her off. 

            "Well that was obvious," He muttered as he straightened up.

            "What are you doing here?"

            "Retrieving the last of my belongings," He said, pointing to some paintings in the corner. "The rest of my art is in my friend's car. I just need my stereo and photos…"

            "So you're really leaving," Vicky said.

            "You think I really want stay here with our psycho father?"

            "Why don't you stay at least till graduation! You'll need a…"

            "No! I can finally get away from this hell, so I'm going to. There's nothing you can say to stop me," Johnny turned back to pick up his CD's.

            "But Johnny, this is stupid. You're going to throw away your education just to screw Dad over?"

            Johnny paused.

            "Yup, pretty much."

            "You're being a pig-headed moron," Vicky said spitefully.

            "Am I? At least I'm not a spoiled little princess who doesn't give a damn about others…"

            "What the hell does that mean? I do to care…"

            "If you cared you would understand why I need to leave," Johnny was starting to get pissed of.

            Vicky pulled a photo off the table. It was a picture of when they were younger, before their mother died. The twins were giving the photographer huge smiles that showed the quiescence of youth with their mother's hands resting on their shoulders. She held it up so Johnny could see.

            "Remember when we were younger?" 

Johnny didn't respond. He went back to packing his CD's. Vicky got fed up with him.

"What would Mom think of this?"

            Johnny slammed the CD's on the table.

            "Leave her out of this."

            "Why, because you're afraid of what she would have thought?" Vicky pushed.

            "No, that has…"

            "Because she would have said you're being a coward?"

            "Vicky, I mean it…"

            "Because she would have…"

            "WELL SHE'S DEAD NOW ISN'T SHE?!" Johnny screamed. Vicky stopped, bewildered.

            "Johnny…"

            "She's dead; she's gone, so her opinion doesn't matter anymore!"

            "How can you say that?!"

            "It's the truth and you know it!"

            "I can't believe you! Have a nice life!" Vicky ripped the photo down the center, left one half on the floor, and ran back to her room.

~          ~          ~

            Johnny stuffed the rest of his belongings into the trunk of Jez's car and slammed it closed. Fuming, he got in the back of the car and slammed the car door. Kit and Jez turned around from the front.

            "You ok?" Jez asked.

            "Yeah, I'm fine, let's go," Johnny mumbled. The other two shrugged and drove off back to Johnny's house. Johnny pulled the ripped photo out of his pocket and sighed.

            ~*I wish you were here, Mom…*~

~          ~          ~

            About a month later, Johnny had turned in his first piece of work for NERVE. They loved it and gave him a bonus on his first paycheck. Johnny used it to refurnish one of the rooms in his house (one of the ones with the least amount of funky stains, Johnny didn't bother trying to figure out what they were from) as a drawing room. In the room adjoining it, he put all his other works.

            As time progressed, NERVE started requesting revisions of his work. At first they were normal, but then they started to get a little bizarre. Johnny didn't say anything, as he figured they probably knew best; this was his first job in the business after all.

            The second check his used to buy a car, a used car. A really, really, beat up, tiny, grey car. But hey, it got him from point A to point B so it had its use.

            Also with his second check, he bought a pet rabbit. His boss had told him to buy one so he get some 'inspiration' for the cover he was working on.

            Which was what he was working on when it started.

            It was about one in the morning. Johnny was in his drawing room, sitting at his desk trying to sketch out the cover before he started painting it. Nearby, on the floor in its cage, his little, unnamed rabbit was squeaking. He hadn't feed it since he bought it, which was about three days ago. He'd been too busy working on the forsaken piece that was in front of him. He threw down his pencil so hard it broke.

            "FUCK! How the HELL am I supposed to put a rabbit in to a cover about brain-frying aliens?!" He screamed, to no one in particular. His pet continued to squeak. 

            That's when he first heard it, the indistinct sound of someone mumbling. He spun around.

            "Who's there?!" He looked frantically around his drawing room. Nothing.

            He heard it again. It almost sounded like a voice, but it was much too gargled to understand. It was like trying to listen to a radio station when the dial isn't set just right. All the while the rabbit continued to make noise.

            Johnny's head started to throb as the snuffled noise got louder in his head. The rabbit squeaked again.

            "SHUT UP!" Johnny turned all his anger to the little defenseless animal on the floor. "Do you HAVE to make so much God damn NOISE?" He ripped it out of its cage. For some reason, his anger had become unreasonably…well…insane. Reflecting on it later, he didn't know how it had occurred; it just seemed that all his pent up rage popped out at once.

            "How's THIS for food?!" He grabbed a hammer and nail from the floor, and rammed the nail through the rabbit's soft body, attaching it to the wall. As the blood trickled down the wall to the floor and the dying creature stopped wriggling, the voices faded from Johnny's head, as quickly as they had come. Johnny shook his head, suddenly tired for some reason. Not having bought a bed yet, he went upstairs and collapsed on the couch.

~          ~          ~

            As Johnny slowly came to, he vaguely felt that he was not on the couch anymore. He figured he must have fallen on the floor again and so didn't think anything of it as he sat. He went to rub his eyes when he realized he was holding something in his hand. He opened his eyes, blinked, and looked at the dripping paintbrush he held in his hand. The liquid dripping in audible 'plops' on the floor was quite thick and was a deep crimson color. Johnny stared at it quite confused. He didn't remember falling asleep while he was painting.

            Johnny looked up to see what he was working on; he thought it might jumpstart his memory. Only he didn't see a canvas in front of him. In front of him was a large wall, on it words were scrawled in the same color as his brush. He felt a low rumble through the floor and so jumped up, startled. Completely perplexed, Johnny stepped up to the wall as he read the still wet words.

            _...blood…death…wall…kill…redrum…_

            "Did I do this?" He asked himself, not expecting an answer.

            Much to his surprise, he answered himself.

            Yes… His mind told him. Johnny paused, trying to remember what he had done before he had gone to sleep. As he stood pondering, another drip from the brush in his hand fell and plopped on his shoe.

            "What is this stuff anyhow? Strangest paint I've ever seen…" Johnny started inspecting the brush again.

            Blood, of course… His mind answered for him again. Images were vaguely floating in his head. It was like being told a story by someone outside but it was his own voice telling him. So it had to be memories, right?

            "Then where the hell did I get blood from?" Johnny asked, a little afraid to know.

            Corner, in the barrels… His mind directed him. Johnny turned and looked. In the corner, a dozen, huge, rusty metal barrels stood. He stood and took a step closer. Each and every one was filled to the brim with a thick, dark, congealing liquid. Johnny gasped and dropped the paint brush, backing up.

            "Di…did…did….I…"

            No, they were here when you got here…

            Johnny gulped, totally unnerved by it all. Not wanting to be in that room any longer, he rushed out and locked the door, not even noticing the dead little rabbit corpse was on the wall next to the barrels.

~          ~          ~

            Johnny chalked it all up to over exhaustion. He figured he must have been sleep walking when it happened. Johnny tried to forget about it and didn't think it would ever happen again.

            He was wrong.

            About a week later he found himself in the room again, more words scrawled on the wall in the blood. And again he answered himself the same way; it was his voice in his head, but it felt like someone else speaking. This time, he saw the rabbit too. Truly freaked, he threw the rabbit in a garbage can, and blockaded the door with a couple filthy tables that were in the lower levels.

            But another week and he was back in the room. Johnny decided to stop sleeping altogether.


	17. ISSUE SEVENTEEN: The Breaking Point

**ISSUE 17**

**The Breaking Point**

            The less Johnny slept, the less frequent he found himself in the room with the wall. It took a while, but he finally started getting used to it. He only found himself in the room, once maybe twice a month.

            He continued his work as usual, despite the bizarre requests of his boss that proceeded to get stranger and stranger.

            "Blue penguins?" Johnny stared at Mr. Nevers as if he had sprouted three heads.

            "Of course!! Recent survey shows people adore small, strange colored animals!" Mr. Nevers exclaimed enthusiastically, flipping up a picture of one of Johnny's preliminary drawings with the afore mentioned animal on it. Johnny simply stared, dumbfounded.

            "I knew you would love it!" Nevers said. "Why don't you go down to the café on the ground floor to take sometime and think about how you are going to incorporate this fabulous idea! On me!"

            "Ok…" Johnny mumbled, too stunned by the stupidity of the man to say anything.

            Johnny did go down to the café, but he didn't buy anything. He just sat there, staring at his concept drawings. He was trying his hardest to figure out how to work with the damned little animals but honestly, how were they supposed to fit into a book about two witches hideously maiming their ex? He was getting extremely frustrated and was getting ready to get up and go give that Nevers a piece of his mind.

            Before he could push his chair back from the table though, he was hit with a splitting headache. It was so bad Johnny's eyes started tearing as the radio fuzz started in the back of his head. Cringing, he rested his head on the table for a moment. As the radio fuzz started to fade away, Johnny lifted his head a bit and opened his eyes. The first thing his eyes focused on was a white, Styrofoam, Pillsbury Doughboy, smiling at him from its display trying to sell month old pastries. Johnny stared at it for a few seconds.

            On some sudden impulse, Johnny jumped up, grabbed the doughboy, and sprinted out of the café, stuffing the pilfered Styrofoam in his backpack as he rushed to his car. Not a single person did anything to stop him.

~          ~          ~

            The clock would have been just striking midnight had the batteries not worn out of his. Johnny rubbed his eyes, sitting in his dark drawing room. His finished project sat before him; the repainted doughboy, FUCK in large black letters on its shirt. Johnny stared at it in dismay and sighed.

            "There has got to be something not right with sitting up and painting Psychotic looking Doughboys all night."

            He picked up the doughboy and tossed it over his shoulder then went upstairs to see if he had anything that resembled food. Finding nothing in his eternally bare kitchen, he sighed and trudged back downstairs to see what he could do with the infernal penguins. When he got back to the room, the painted Doughboy was sitting on his desk again. Johnny stood, quite puzzled, and after a moment or two he shrugged, threw the Styrofoam creature back on the floor, then pulled out a piece of paper to start working again.

            He worked for awhile sitting in the poorly lit room, drawing, erasing, thinking, erasing some more. Eventually, he erased a hole in the paper. He growled, aggravated, and put the pencil down, reaching to get a new piece of paper from the top of file cabinet that was next to the desk. He grabbed instead the Styrofoam doughboy.

            Johnny blinked and rubbed his eyes. He shook his head and threw the doughboy over his shoulder once again. He was about to go back to work when his head started throbbing and the radio fuzz came in again, except duller than usual.

            Aren't you tired?... He heard in his head. His thoughts speaking to him. It was similar to before, his voice seeming to take life of its own. But this time, it was a different shade of his voice; a darker, more evil, sadistically seductive voice whispering to him.

            "No," He answered himself, attempting to blink away the headache so he could work, but it grew worse, not allowing it.

            Ah, but wouldn't it be nice to lie down?...

            Johnny stood up.

"I told you I'm not tired!" He headed out to see about some aspirin when something caught his eye. The doughboy was on top of the cabinet again. Freaked out, he started towards it, his vision getting a tad blurry.

            I think you are…

            Johnny passed out.

            He woke up in the room with the 'wall' once again.

~          ~          ~

Time held no meaning in Johnny's little world. He was in his drawing room for days on end at times and had no idea if it was light or dark. And his vehement distaste for sleep helped to aid in this lapse of time. He no longer ran on the same time table of the rest of the world.

            One day, Johnny found himself in the NERVE office once again.

            "Well, helloooo there Johnny! It's been awhile since you came in. I was afraid you had died or something," Mr. Nevers welcomed him with his ever peppy expression.

            "Um, no…" Johnny said. "I've been having problems…"

            "Really? Do tell."

            "Well, it's crazy I guess. I've been hearing…voices in my head. And the freaky thing is, I can't tell if they're my own thoughts or not. They seem to correspond with these… things that move around my house. I've started giving the names…I think my house is haunted…"

            "Nonesense! No such thing as ghosts!"

            "Yes, well…" Johnny's eyes darkened as he stared at something only he could see, pulling himself in to some sort of trance. "Whatever they are, they're getting stronger. The only way I can beat them is by not sleeping. If I do sleep, I wake up confused, frightened, disoriented…and it feels like part of me is missing, like they take something away from me when I'm not aware. I think I'm losing my memory, maybe even my sanity…"

            Mr. Nevers' ever present grin stayed glued on his face.

            "That sounds excellent my boy. Now, how about that cover?"

            "Huh?" Johnny snapped out of his trance. "Um, yeah, I'm having problems. Nailbunny keeps trying to remind me of the wall and Psycho Doughboy won't stop trying to depress me…"

            "Well then," Whether Mr. Nevers thought he was insane or was simply ignoring his babbles was impossible to tell. "I think I have just the thing to help you out."

            Johnny came home with another doughboy that night.

~          ~          ~

            There was a knock at the door, Johnny almost didn't hear it. He was downstairs, staring at blank sheet of paper as what seemed to be usual for him lately. His previous attempt at drawing ended up with an anemic, pissed off stick figure. He was getting quite peeved at this rut he was stuck in. He wasn't even able to paint for himself anymore. He was losing all inspiration.

            You know Nny, you're running low on blood for the wall… Nailbunny said, attached to the wall above the drawing desk.

            Nny simply growled at the annoying corpse.

            Johnny, all this work and no play really isn't good. Go out, have some fun!... The newer doughboy, dubbed Mr. Eff, trumpeted from his corner.

            "No f…"

            *KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

            Johnny looked up at the ceiling, wondering where the hell the rapping-tap-tapping was coming from. As it sounded again, he realized it was someone at the chamber door, well the front door anyway. Curious, he got up and went to answer it, figuring it was just someone from NERVE coming to find out why he hadn't called in for about…fuck he didn't remember how long it had been since he had outside human contact of any kind.

            He was quite surprised at what he found on his doorstep.

            "JEZ!" Johnny gawked at her, having not seen the girl in the longest time, precisely how long, he had no clue.

            "Hey Nny! I was beginning to wonder if you weren't home!" Jez replied, her innocent grin beaming. Johnny simply stared at her, astonished.

            "Um, are ya gonna invite me in?" She asked a little unnerved by his stare. 

            "Oh, yeah, come on in," Johnny stepped back from the doorway and let her in. "Excuse the mess, I wasn't expecting anyone." Mess was an understatement. The room was dingy and dark, the only light in the room was that streaming through the boarded up windows. The walls were cracked and filthy, a dilapidated couch sat to the side with a broken down TV in front of it.

            "Um, I hope I'm not bothering you. I was just looking through some old pictures and I was wondering what you were up to," Jez chirped, looking around the dank room.

            "Oh, nothing…I was just…um…working in my drawing room…"

            "I got ya a birthday present!" She said, pulled a bag out from behind her back.

            "Birthday?"

            "Yeah, today's your birthday? Don't you pay attention to the date?"

            "Well, I've been kind of out it lately…"

            "Open your present! I found it in this really cute shop next to that NERVE place you work. It just screamed your name…" She babbled as he pulled a Bub's Burger boy statue out of the bag. Johnny smiled. He was really glad she had come to see him. Maybe he would be able to regain himself by having communication with something other than an inanimate object.

            "I love it! Thanks!"

            "Oh, no problem! So, how's it been going? I haven't heard from you in the longest time," Jez tried to make small talk, the ominous feeling of the house making her kind of uneasy.

            "Oh…it's been going…ok I guess…" Johnny said, ignoring Nailbunny whispering about the wall in his head. "How's it going with you? How's Kit?"

            "Wow, you really have been out of it, haven't you?"

            "What do you mean?"

            "I haven't talked to her in ages…"

            "What happened? You two were best friends," Johnny asked.

            "Oh, I dunno. I just kind of found a new crowd. I mean, we didn't have a fight or anything but…I just needed to put her on the backburner for awhile I guess…"

            "Oh."

            There was an awkward silence.

            Hmm…Wouldn't she do nicely?... Johnny shook his head, trying to ignore the voice.

            "So, are you hungry? I could see if there's anything to eat in my under stocked kitchen," Johnny offered.

            "That'd be great!" Jez said, smiling again. Johnny walked into his kitchen and started looking through cabinets, not that there was anymore food than there usually was.

            "Hey, Nny? What's downstairs?"

            "Oh, um. My drawing room and some stuff left over from the last person who lived here. The guy had a fetish with knives for some reason…"

            "Can I look?"

            "Uh…I guess so…" Nny agreed, despite the nagging feeling in the back of his head. He walked out of the kitchen and followed her down the stairs.

            Isn't this perfect?...

            "Wow, you weren't kidding," She said, gazing upon the multiple tables of sharp tools.

            "Yeah, I was thinking about cleaning them up and selling them or something but I just can't find the time," Johnny said, watching a Jez stepped up to one of the tables and poked the sickle on it. "Over there's my drawing room…" Johnny pointed but Jez wasn't paying attention.

            "Hey, what's in here?" Jez made towards a cracked door. It led to the wall room.

            "Oh, I'd prefer if you didn't go in there," Johnny said, getting slightly worried.

            "Why, ya got skeletons in your closet?" She snickered at her joke and started towards the door again. Johnny crossed the room as quickly as possible, bumping a table and knocking off an old can on the floor.

            "Please…" He protested as she opened the door and was about to walk in. "JEZ!" He grabbed by the shoulder and pulled her back, a tad rougher than he had intended.

            "Hey!" She exclaimed and she stumbled backward and slipped on the can that Johnny had knocked over, bumping a nearby table in the process. "That was…" She started, but halfway through her sentence, the table fell over, dumping multiple various weapons on her.

            Johnny stood shocked for a moment, the sound of his pumping heart filling his ears. He rushed to her fallen figure and started shaking her shoulder.

            "Jez? Can you hear me? Jez?! Jessie?! JESSICA?!" He called as crimson blood spread over the floor, her face permanently frozen in horror, eyes wide open staring at the ceiling. He stopped shaking her, and gulped, eyes wide open and unblinking.

            Johnny was too stunned to do anything. His breath had become shallow, he couldn't think, couldn't move. One of the only people who had ever been anything to him, who helped him through high school was dead. And it was his fault. His chance at redemption was gone. 

But he never shed a tear, he never broke down. He just sat next to her, blood staining his pants, an empty shell. His crumbling mind finally crashed into a thousand pieces, his last line to reality severed.

~          ~          ~

            About damn time… Psycho Doughboy said. The three voices sat in a corner watching.

            I'm just sad I didn't think of it… Eff commented. 

            He's so hurt… Nailbunny said, some what saddened by the whole bit himself. Johnny eye's were unblinking, one could see his soul falling into shadow in them.

            Please don't tell me you're sympathizing for him… D-Boy scrutinized. They shouldn't have sent a newbie on this job…

            Pansy ass…no wonder you couldn't handle the job on your own…

            Never trust a bunny to do a doughboy's job… The Doughboy's laughed cynically.

            Nailbunny stopped to look at his host. He could feel Johnny's mind shatter like stained glass hit by a baseball. It was like the sound of an old tree breaking into in the forest somewhere, totally alone. Nailbunny could not imagine anything more desolate than the poor boy in front of him. 

            Look, what's he doing?... Eff asked.

            Johnny pulled the weapons out of the dead girl's corpse, picked her up and carried her into the next room; the room with the wall. Through the crack in the door, Nailbunny could see him pull out a brush; his mind was a completely empty shell, just functioning, not feeling.

            Nailbunny refused to damage the poor child anymore from that point on.


	18. ISSUE EIGHTEEN: Sins of the Father

**ISSUE 18**

**Sins of the Father**

Vicky sat in a cab peering out of the window, frowning.

            "Are y'all sure this is it?" She asked, running a hand though her bleached blonde hair. She gawked at the decrepit shack that was in front of her, the front lawn all dirt and the windows boarded up.

            "Yep. This is 777," The cab driver responded. "Damn thing should be condemned if you ask me."

            "Thanks," Vicky said, nervously. She paid the cab driver and climbed out of the cab. Vicky hugged her purse as she walked up the sidewalk, heels clicking on the pavement, an eerie sound against the completely silent daylight. Nothing else seemed to emit a single peep, there was not even a bird to speak of.

            Vicky stepped up on the front stoop, took a shaky breath, and then pressed her finger against the door bell.

            BZZZAAACK!

            She quickly retracted her hand, unsettled by the noise. After a moment or so, she tried knocking on the door. No one answered. She stood for a tad longer looking around, her skin crawling from the eerie aura of the place. She then knocked again and getting tired of waiting, she tested the doorknob. It clicked and opened; Vicky stuck her head in tentatively.

            "Hello? Is anybody home? Johnny?" Vicky called. She took a step in and looked around, appalled by the filthiness of the house, what she could see at least. None of the lights were on and she could not see far in. "Sorry to just show up without callin' or anythin'…" She paused as she heard a rustle in the corner and stood stock still, waiting to see what it was. Once she was sure nothing was there, she took another deep breath and she stepped in. She knew he was there, she could feel him.

            "Haven't seen ya in a while. I thought maybe we could catch up on things…"

            No response. She took another step.

            "I saw Kit in the store the other day, that's how I got your address. She said she hasn' heard from ya in a while. She says 'hi' by the way."

            The air in the room was thick and heavy, like a wool blanket on a summer day, despite the cool fall air outside. Cold sweat made her clothes stick to her skin. Vicky gulped.

            "Remember that crazy uncle of ours? The workaholic on Dad's side? He and his family came to visit. Cousin Todd is just so adorable…"  
            Vicky was starting to get jittery from the stifling silence, it was worse in here than it was outside, the impenetrable darkness of the house seeming to suck up any noise made much like a sponge, the light coming from the cracks not compensating well for the lack of lights.

            "Ok, I didn't come just to talk. I'm sorry Johnny for everything," Vicky started gushing. "I miss havin' you around. College certainly isn't what they make it out to be. I don't have very many friends…ok I don't really have a single one. It's kinda lonely…

            "Hey, the first concert of the semester is tonight. I…was hoping you would come…"

            Silence was all that answered her; she sighed.

            "Look, here's the ticket. All the information you should need is on it… I hope I see you there," Vicky set the ticket on the floor, took one last look around, and then hurried out, rushing to the cab.

            Johnny melted out of the darkness of the corner as the door creaked closed behind her, his black ensemble and practice making it quite easy for him to remain as a phantom until he chose. He could hear the cab door slam as she drove off.

            He almost hadn't recognized her…or remembered her, he wasn't exactly sure; his mind presided in a constant state of fuzziness. After a minute or two of her jarring southern accent he recalled who she was.

            Johnny circled the ticket slowly as an animal circles a foreign object.

            You should've killed her, Nny… P-boy taunted. Her voice was enough to make person leap off a building…

            "Shut up," Nny commanded sternly. "I can't kill my sister." He crouched down to pick up the ticket.

            How sentimental…

            Don't tell me you're actually thinking of going… Mr. Eff piped up.

            Ignore them, it would be good for you to go out… Nailbunny added.

            "Hmm…" Nny read the ticket. "I've always enjoyed classical music…"

~          ~          ~

            The concert was superb. Nny had never been present at a better performance. Of course, his seat was also right next to his father, who kept commenting during the entire thing. It didn't help that Johnny was quite underdressed for the occasion, his old, wrinkled shirt, jeans, and boots not fitting in at all with everyone else's grand clothing. Nearly everyone he passed eyed him as a rancid vegetable. It reminded him of why he hated society. This topic seemed to be his father's favorite point to remind him of. Nny dug his nails into the arms of the chair to keep himself from doing anything rash.

            The final song ended with a brass fanfare and a violin solo, which Vicky ended with a flourish. The conductor lowered his baton and the crowd responded with thunderous applause. The conductor bowed and then gestured to Vicky. She rose and bowed herself, in response to a standing ovation, roses landing at her feet.

            Nny stood up and gave his sister applause as well. Despite his father's nagging, the music was soothing. Well, for the most part anyway. 

            "She's going to go all the way," His father said softly, though clear enough so Johnny heard. "You should take some pointers on work ethic from her, Jonathon."

            He could _not take it anymore. Nny growled and hurried from the concert hall, not even waiting for the orchestra to leave the stage. If he hadn't, bad things would happen and even Johnny knew it would be impolite to go berserk at such a cultured event._

~          ~          ~

Vicky bowed again on the stage, grinning from ear to ear. She looked down at the front row and was even happier; Johnny had decided to come to her performance. She was hoping that maybe she could catch up on things with him now. Unfortunately, to her dismay, Johnny rushed from his seat and to the nearest exit as fast as he could without running, their father glaring after him. Vicky sighed. She should have known better.

            Vicky exited the stage quickly and put away her instrument. She then grabbed the case and her purse, and hurried out to where a reception was being held after the concert. She rushed in the room and was quickly congratulated by a large crowd of people. She nodded politely at them and looked around for her father. He, however, was nowhere to be found. After a few minutes or so, Vicky turned to one of her father's co-workers who had also attended the performance.

            "Have y'all seen my dad?" She asked.

            "Oh, he left fairly soon after your brother did, once you left the stage of course," The man replied. Something in the back of Vicky's head went off like a siren and she rushed out of the hall like a bat out of hell to her car.

~          ~          ~

            He pulled up behind the little grey car that appeared as though it was purchased from a yard sale. The pile of wood that presented itself as his deadbeat son's residence was appalling and he was frankly embarrassed by the thought of being associated by a person who wallowed in such refuse. 

            Johnny's father stepped out of his car and hurried up the pathway to the front door. He didn't bother to ring the bell or even knock; he just burst through the front door.

            "JONATHON!" He bellowed. "Where are you?! Get out here this instant!"

            He didn't notice as the door behind him was slowly pushed shut until the lock clicked.

            "Oh why Father dearest, how good of you to visit," Johnny said as the door shut, voice dripping in sarcasm from his spot in the shadows by the door. His father spun around, only able to see the moonlight peaking in from the boarded up windows reflecting off his eyes. "I hope you found the place alright…"

            "Don't you dare take that tone with me, young man!" His father snapped. Johnny didn't move from his spot leaning against the wall.

            "You are a very rude guest, you know that? Not that you really are a guest, so much as a small minded egotistical man whose wasted his insignificant life."

            "Excuse me?"

            "Did you have a reason to follow me all the way here or was it just to irritate me?"

            "Look at yourself, I can't believe this!" His father turned to look around at the dimly lit 'living room'. "This is where your pig headedness got you!" He leaned over to turn on a very small lamp. When he turned around Johnny was breathing down his neck, causing his father to jump a tad.

            "My pig-headedness?"

            "You're a mess Jonathon…"

            "It's Johnny."

            "…This art garbage has landed you in a pit. You're pathetic. I had everything set up for you, but no! You had to have a rebel streak. If only you followed tradition…"

            "Followed tradition?! You pompous egomaniacal bastard!!"

            "Watch your language, boy!!!" His father commanded.

            "I'm not your 'boy' anymore!!! Why in God's name would I want to become a drunken, violent bastard like you?!"

            "JONATHON! YOU HAD BETTER WATCH THAT MOUTH OF YOURS BEFORE…"

            "Before what?! You'll beat me? Again? What a surprise!"

            "YOU ASKED FOR IT, JONATHON!!" He raised his hand to strike Johnny. The 'boy', however, caught his wrist in mid-swing.

            "No, Father, you asked for it." Nny growled. "And by the way, it's Johnny."

            Johnny backhanded him with his free arm, sending his father wheeling onto the floor.

            "Young man, you're going to pay for that…" His father said getting on to his hands and knees. Johnny kicked him in the face, a satisfying crunch signifying he had broken his nose as the body hit the floor again. Johnny stood over him, and leaned down, a dangerous grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

            "Heh, somehow, I think not," Johnny straightened and stalked around his father who cradled his bleeding nose. "All the times I've imagined this moment and now the chance finally arrives! But how to do it…hm…"

            Johnny stopped at a table he had prepared; having known his father was following him.

            "Knives would make it too quick…Drills can be fun…Of course there's always the prospect of poking out your eyes with a sewing needle first…"

            His father tried to get up but Nny, hearing the noise, spun around and threw a rather large ninja star at him, which sliced threw his shoulder, landing him back on the ground. Johnny sighed. 

            "For some reason everyone wants to leave before the party starts…" Johnny sighed, turned back to the table. "Oooo…this could work…" Johnny picked up a large, rusty wrench.

            "P…please…"

            "Please what? Are you going to try to beg for your life? How sweet!" Johnny chuckled as he crouched over his father, a harsh sound that reminded one of thunder before the storm. "Ironic, isn't it? All the times we've done this before…"

            "D..don't do…"

            "…And now the tables are turned," Johnny grabbed his father's face roughly and looked right into his father's eyes. They were the eyes of a rabid dog about to attack.

            "Jonathon…"

            "For the last time…" Nny growled, foaming. "MY NAME IS JOHNNY!"

            *CRACK!*

~          ~          ~

            Vicky yelled at the cabbie as they raced to 777. They wove between traffic almost crashing quite a few times and running stop lights. Luckily, the cops weren't out tonight and Vicky made it to her brother's in record time.

            She slammed the car door shut, forgetting to pay the cab driver. She raced up to the door where she finally stopped. She could hear what sound like cleaver hacking at flesh over and over again. She burst through the door to stop her father.

            "DAD! WAI…" She halted mid-sentence, terrified by the scene laid out before her. Johnny hovered over what appeared to be their father, from the clothes anyway. Everything was covered in blood, especially Johnny who was poised with a wrench in mid air, little pieces of flesh dangling from it.

            Johnny was stunned by her entrance, the crazed look on his face made Vicky think he was about to attack her. His eyes did not recognize her, only showing pure, undiluted rage. After about a minute or so, his mind seemed to return to him somewhat and he lowered the wrench.

            "What are you doing here?" He rumbled.

            "I came to protect…well…you…" There was another awkward silence, neither party quite sure what to do. "Is he…"

            "No…not yet anyway…" He chuckled, insanity started creeping back into his voice.

            "Johnny…Are you…"

            "You should leave…" He cut her off.

            "But…"

            "Look, I don't trust myself around people anymore…This matter does not concern you. Justice must be served…" He looked back down at his father's body, eyes glistening. "Please go."

            "Johnny…"

            "I said LEAVE!" He yanked the star from his father's shoulder and chucked it at her in one smooth movement. Vicky ducked out the door, stood there for a moment, then raced back to the cab.


	19. ISSUE NINETEEN: In Dreams

AN: Here's the end folks. Thanks to everyone who's been reading this from the beginning. Sorry this chapter is a tad short, but this was my plan from the beginning.

I hope you all have a Happy Holiday.

~The Archer

**ISSUE 19**

**In Dreams…**

            Devi's head spins as the world reforms around her for the final time, the quasi lit room reappearing in front of her, the same Cheshire cat smile still plastered on "The Boss's" face. Johnny lies in the same position as before the flashback, though is no longer sobbing and twitching. He simply stays in his curled up position, his weapon not far away.

            A low, spine tingling chuckle sounds from The Boss.

            "Poor little Victoria befell a similar fate," The Boss eloquently speaks as though he is depicting the end of a child's faerie tale. "Alas, she never told what had befallen her father. He ended up, of course, a missing person who no one really missed at all. Vicky, suffering a terrible post-traumatic disorder at witnessing such a scene quickly lost her scholarship as her grades, and magnificent playing, dropped. And to be able to continue paying for her education…she came to me for a job."

            The Boss chuckles again.

            "You…bastard…" Johnny finally croaks out, sitting up. Devi looks over to see him, tears streaming down his anguished face, eyes shooting daggers and mouth dripping venom as he heaves each breath in and out. His hand slides slowly over the smooth floor as he reaches for his knife.

            "Aw, what's the matter, Johnny boy?" The Boss taunts him, amused. "You didn't like that little movie? I think I have some Oscar winning scenes in there! I was debating on sending it to the Academy!"

            "You think…you can FUCK with people's lives just like that?!" Nny's voice growled as he suppressed his anger, waiting for the right moment.

            "As I told you before, I did not 'fuck' with your lives! You have your alcoholic madman of a father to thank for that! Had I not saved you, you would have been dead by now!"

            "Saved me? FROM WHAT?! Living a real god damn life?!" Nny's anger was slowly getting the better of him.

            "I saved you from the traumas that are the outside world! Without my protection, you would've been in a gutter by now! You were a weakling when I found you and I sculpted you into something more!"

            "WHAT ABOUT MY SISTER?!"

            "That you have yourself to blame for! She would not have known about NERVE if it weren't for you. It just so happens I was opening a musical extension to my business…"

            "SHE DIDN'T DESERVE THIS!"

            "Well, you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet."

            Johnny's ferocity brakes like a dam and his anger radiates in waves as he leaps up and rushes the invisible shield, knife in hand. It shatters under the force of impact (though whether by Nny's design or the Boss's, one can not tell.) Johnny swings his arm up as he approaches the throne, creatures scrambling out of the way as Nny prepares to cleave The Boss's head from his shoulders.

            The Boss grins and stands as Nny approaches him. At the last possible second he seizes the stampeding Johnny by the throat and hoists him into the air. Nny drops his knife, struggling for air.

            "A feisty one, are we?! Too bad, I had always wanted a knowledgeable underling."

            The Boss steps forward into the light and as Devi takes in her first real look of him, a blinding light flashes in the room, overriding all sight, sound and feeling.

~          ~          ~

            "Wake up…wake up, Johnny…"

            Johnny sits bolt upright with a scream from a dead sleep then falls off the couch, covered in cold sweat. He lies on the ground for a moment or two breathing rapidly and eyes darting around to take in his surroundings.

            After the realization hits that he is home, he sits back up, holding his throbbing skull.

            "Did you have a nice dream?" Reverend Meat asks from his spot on the coffee table.

            "Fuck you," Nny spits out at him. "Shit, I hate sleep…"

            "Well, you slept for quite awhile. I wasn't sure if you were going to wake up."

            Johnny looks outside. The sun is setting and he can not seem to remember when he fell asleep, of course that was not all too uncommon as sleep always confused the hell out of him.

            "Damn it…I hope she hasn't trashed the house…" Johnny mutters as he stands.

            "Who?"

            "Vicky! Who else?"

            "Who's Vicky? You've named one of your toys?"

            "NO! My sister, you fook!"

            "You really must have hit your head. You don't have a sister."

            "Nice try, Burger Boy, We were supposed to go to n…to…shit, why can't I remember?" Johnny scratches his head, straining to recall their plans.

            "That certainly must have been some dream."

            "No! She wasn't part of…" Johnny pauses and looks around. There are no purple paint splatters, no signs of his sister anywhere.

            With a confused look on his face, Nny stumbles away from the couch and makes for the downstairs, Meat calling out with obviously false worry after him. 

            As Nny gets closer to his destination, he starts picking up more speed, trying to file through the memories in his head. The memories, however, are twisting and melting, fading into his dream. And his dream in turn is slowly slipping from his mind like sand through an hour glass.

            Johnny stops in front of what he believes is his drawing room door. He pauses with his hand on the knob for a moment, and then pushes the door open. It swings in with little resistance.

            The room is bleak, undecorated and blood stained, just like every other room in his house. Nny, positive that there had once been something in there, rushes across the room to the adjoining room, but it was empty too.

            "I could've sworn…fuck, I hate sleep," Nny turns to walk back upstairs, the dream having completely faded. "Me, have a twin…I need to kill something…"

            Nny stops and stoops to pick up something that catches his eye. He stands back up holding a pair of silver rimmed sunglasses. He puts them on and smiles, all uncertainties from his recent bout of sleep gone.

            "I wonder what the football team is up to…"

            As Nny leaves and closes the door behind him, two rats with sparkling eyes dart through a large hole in the wall, each carrying the halves of a torn photograph in to the dark.

END


End file.
